The Blue Planet
by Lavender Kisses
Summary: Earth has gone through many changes. But one major change is that it is now dominated by the Trolls from Alternia. What will happen when John finds a wounded Karkat, and decides to help him? AU JonKat and many multiple parings.Some characters May be OOC.
1. Prologue

Authors note: Hi all, I am finally posting something I have been working on with a friend of mine. Feel free to let me know what you think of it. Please do so, I need input, I can't live without feedback. 

Disclaimer: Homestuck is owned by Andrew Hussie. No money is being made off this.

Prologue

Earth was peaceful somewhat, when the first fleets of the Trolls arrived. Sure the humans fought one another, killing each other in the name of "religion", or people killed each other for greed, or, you name it.

That didn't mean that an entire alien race could come in and conquer the blue planet.

Jack Noir, General of the military, second in command form Alternia, saw Earth and decided to take control of the planet with only one moon. The humans offered weak resistance. And so within three human years, Jack and his Troll army had claimed the planet and were starting the colonization. Only a handful survived the brutality of the Trolls, they lived in hiding now.

~Well that is it for this, next part will be longer. Please review!


	2. Chapter 1

John looked up, his face reflecting the shock that filled him. In all his thirteen years he never imagined that he would ever encounter a troll, let alone have one nearly crash into him from the sky. Said troll was halted from smashing into him from the tree that tangled around the parachute the troll was hooked to.

All his instincts screamed for him to flee, and not look back. Like a deer trapped in the headlights of an oncoming car; he was frozen to the spot. His blue eyes quickly surveying the troll that was not moving. In fact the troll seemed to be bleeding, wait, he thought to himself. Wasn't troll blood some weird color, like purple or brown or something? He could have sworn that his friend, Dave, had told him once. He had never questioned Dave's knowledge, he trusted his best friend with his life.

The liquid that was seeping onto the clothes covering the troll looked a lot like his own blood. And the drops that were falling down from the leaf free tree, hitting the dried orange brown leaves on the ground, was most defiantly red. John knew he should he should run, he knew the others would kill him if he got killed, mainly Dave.

John slowly moved forward, being careful not to let the red blood drip onto him.

"Damn you John Egbert," he said to himself in his head, "Why the fuck are you helping the enemy?"

"Clearly I've gone insane," he replied. The two voices in his head were the voices of Dave and Rose.

"I think it's the right thing to do," that voice was clearly Jade.

At the base of the tree, John paused; he knew if he didn't help the troll would die. If he did help him, than he himself might die. Groaning from the sheer thought of that, John steeled himself and ascended to the base of the oak tree.

Clearing his mind of all, save his task at hand, John scampered over to the branches and made his way to the trapped and wounded troll.

He was now within two feet of the troll. He looked at him closely and allowed his curiosity to get the best of him.

Everything about him, screamed alien to John. The troll had grey skin, sickly grey. He also had horns on his head that looked like candy corn, it even the same colors. The troll's back hair on his head seemed thick as it half covered the seemingly lifeless face.

Leaning closer, John noticed the troll had sharp teeth that reminded himself of a shark.

"I really shouldn't do this," John said out loud as he tentatively reached out and touched the teeth.

"Yup!" he nervously said as he yanked his hand once more. "Just like a shark."

His voice seemed to be the only sound in the forest. Even the birds were silent. Glancing all around him, he realized that to get the troll down, he would need to literally have the troll drop. Good thing the was unconscious, or dead.

That thought caused John to reach over once more to feel if the troll was breathing. Sighing with a mixture of relief and anticipation, John couldn't help it. His hand combed the raven locks away from the (not dead) troll.

His eyes went to the horns. They were cute in a way that if John knew that if the troll ever heard that term for them; John knew he would be dead.

He shouldn't, he told himself, as his hand reached over of its own accord. He couldn't help himself though. He lightly the horn nearest to him. It was smooth. His hand cupped the horn and rubbed it. To John's ears, the sound was loud, even though it was no more than a low rumble emitting from the trolls throat.

Almost like a cat would purr, it seemed like the troll was purring.

Startled John jerked his hand away, nearly falling from the branch in the process. The troll was stirring slightly, trying to regain consciousness.

"Oh no! " John mumbled. He had to be quick or troll might wake up and use those wickedly sharp teeth to tear John's tender flesh from his bones. "You Idiot," john mumbled to himself.

Reaching into his pack he quickly found his trusty knife and cut the troll loose. Cringing as the troll landed with a thud on the ground below. It was a good thing all the leaves were down there to cushion the drop.


	3. Chapter 2

Jade sat up on the bed that she shared with Dave, Rose and John. Her slender hand reached over to where John should be, cuddled up to Dave, to find only the empty feeling of the blanket. Her dream had been so vivid; she had honestly believed that John was back from his three day expedition to find food. Dave had wanted to go along, yet John had fussed that he was old enough to go alone, just like all the others did. Dave just hated not knowing if John was okay or not.

As Jade reached over, Dave sat up and nearly bumped the top of his head against the low roof of the cave that they had found just five days ago. "What is it?" his voice held no traces of sleep that Jade still felt.

"I had a dream…"

"About John." Dave guessed, "Tell me what it was."

"It was just a dream…" Jade tried in vain to brush Dave off the topic of John. Ever since John had left yesterday morning, Dave had been on edge.

"Just tell me Jade."

Rose too leaned forward and sleepily rubbed her eyes. "What is it?" her voice was soft as she looked blearily at the other two, wondering what exactly they were talking about.

"Jade dreamed about John and now won't tell me what it was about." Dave was clearly upset. "You both know how I feel about him."

"We do," Rose said, "You love him, yet he does not love you in that way Dave."

"That is beside the point; I just want to protect him." Dave seemed to be pouting.

"Fine," Jade seemed to relent, "You and John were with a dozen or so Troll's."

"What!" Dave was incredulous. "Then what?"

"That's just it, you were with some Trolls."

"What about you and Rose?"

"Just you and John."

"Could you tell where it was?" Rose asked.

"Not really." Jade smiled slightly, "You both seemed happy though."

"That is not a true dream than Jade. No way in hell would I be happy with a bunch of Troll's around me."

"Oh Dave…" Jade giggled while Rose sighed, "you were even laughing with one of the troll's."

Rose was the one that snorted as Dave just looked incredulous at the raven haired girl. "I think you need to evaluate that dream than." Rose laughed. In her mind it was foreign to have Dave be even remotely friendly with the trolls.

"You really need to-" Jade was cut off by the fact that Dave crawled out of the cave and without a word headed down the hill, in the direction that they had seen John going yesterday.

***EBCC***

John had managed to half carry; half drag the wounded Troll over to where he had left his other things. Once they were away from the tree, John went to work patching up the troll to the best of his abilities.

Most of the wounds were superficial; the most major wound was a slice in the upper right side of the troll's abdomen. Thankfully it was not deep.

Busy with his job of patching, John didn't notice at first when the troll began to regain consciousness.

"WHAT THE FUCK!" A startled voice said to him, causing him to jump back in shock.

The said voice was yelling different profanity's at the situation, never once realizing that he was wounded.

"Oh you are awake." John nervously commented.

"NO SHIT! WHY THE HELL ARE YOU HERE?"

"Sorry for not introducing myself sooner, I am John Egbert, I saw you crash and decided to help you."

"WHY?" the troll seemed to eye him wearily, he went to sit up and was gently pushed back down so the wounds would not be aggravated.

"I honestly don't know why myself."

"SO WHERE AM I?" The troll looked around, "AND WHY AM I OUTSIDE? WHERE IS MY LUSUS? HE SHOULD HAVE REMADE MY HIVE BY NOW."

"What is a Lusus?" at his question, the troll looked closer at his companion.

"WHAT THE FUCK! ARE YOU ONE OF THOSE IDIOT HUMAN THINGS?"

The question startled John; he hadn't expected it, "Well uh… hmm… I guess so."

"FUCK, WHY DO YOU HAVE TO BE A HUMAN?" The troll sat up so quick that John didn't have a chance to stop him.

"Please troll, lay back down."

"MY NAME IS NOT TROLL, HUMAN."

"Well what is it then?"

"KARKAT, YOU FUCK ASS."

"Beep beep meow." John laughed and Karkat glared at him. "Well you did say Car Cat."

"I AM SADDLED WITH THE ONLY IDIOT HUMAN THAN?" Karkat sighed heavily.

"You are not saddled with me," John gently pushed Karkat down once more. This time when Karkat tried to get up, John literally sat down on top of the trolls lap, pushing gently on the shoulders of the troll that was trying vainly to wriggle free. "Any way's I am not too bad am I?"

For a brief moment the two of them just stared at one another, each deep in their own thoughts. From behind they both heard, "What. The. Holy. Fuck! Is. Going on here?"

John looked over his shoulders and saw a familiar blonde head with a pair of cool shades on his near red albino eyes, "Dave! You missed me!"

"That is beside the point, what exactly are you doing with that thing?"

"What thing?"

"That thing between your legs idiot."

John looked down at the troll who was glaring daggers at Dave. "Oh you mean Car Cat."

"You made friends with it?" Dave reached over and tried to pull John off the troll.

"Well I did save his life." John mumbled and wouldn't let Dave budge him. "And don't move me, if you do he will get up and reopen his wounds."

"YEAH," the troll added, "GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME."

Karkat couldn't believe it, this other human had tried getting the John one off of him and he had been upset, hell, he didn't like having the human male sitting on his lap. Nope, not at all! In fact just the feel of the way the human seemed to feel perfect against him had him shocked, no one, human or troll should ever sit on him like this, he thought. However as he contemplated how it would be if the human male were to get off of him now, he was filled with displeasure.

Now if what this John thing said was true, then he would have to stay with John till the other needed saved, that was part of troll custom that caused most trolls to never have anything to do with saving one another's lives. They did not want to be with another troll unless it was a matesprit, and even then they still had all the other quadrants to deal with. Life for a troll was not easy, it was rife with all the complications that caused each troll to at least once mistake one another for a different part of the quadrant.

John and Dave both looked at the troll, John with shock, Dave with ire. "What the fuck…" Dave mumbled. Once more he tried to pull John off the offensive troll. "Come on John, let's just leave him be."

"I can't." John told his best bud. "He needs me."

"Yeah listen to this dork." Karkat shoved John off and went to stand between the sprawled out John and Dave.

Before things could escalate, John too got up; he was none too graceful about it though, "Dave, I can't just abandon him."

"John," Dave easily got next to his naïve friend, and glared at the short troll. "I am not leaving you."

"That is fine, just let me stay and heal him."

"Yeah he would probably die without your help." Dave said matter-of-factly.

"Maybe we should take them to the girls. Rose would know how to heal him up fast."

"I don't think that would be wise right now." Dave said as he noticed the troll just watching the two of them. "Wait a minute," Dave said looking back and forth from the troll to John, "Why the hell is he here?"


	4. Chapter 3

A/N I guess this is where I post this, thank you to the reviews, it makes my day! My friend has been full of ideas so I guess we will be posting one or two at the most chapters up daily. A big thanks to those that favorite and are now following this with alerts, please review though, I need the feedback! And now on with the story….

John looked at Car Cat for an explanation to Dave's question.

"I don't have to explain anything to you two humans." The troll said in way of both of them looking intently at him.

"See John, he is no good." Dave said, "Let's leave him here. He seems to be getting better every second."

Karkat was not sure why the thought of the human John leaving him would cause such a strange reaction, yet it did. He nearly panicked till he heard John say, "I am not leaving him alone."

"He should explain then."

"I am not explaining anything to you."

John looked crestfallen as he asked, "Would you please reconsider?"

Karkat looked at the John human and knew then that he would do anything the human asked. He wondered if it was all part of that saving thing that bonded him to the human that wore funny looking glasses on his nose. "Fine." He sighed and sat down to ease the dull ache in his side. "We are here on this blue planet to colonize it. For some reason, our planet is about to die. Some think it is because the planet is too close to our sun, others think that it has something to do with Jack Noir. I think it is because of a little of both."

John got busy preparing breakfast, some roots he had dug up and was beginning to boil them with a little jerky he had left over from the elk that he and Dave had killed during the spring. "Hand me that tomato Dave." He said as the troll paused in his speech. "Go on," he added to Karkat as Dave handed him the juicy red tomato. "Tell us how many are planning on being here."

Karkat looked a little dejected as he watched the two humans interact. "Well all I know is that each vessel contains twelve trolls and their Lusus. Something happened on mine that caused it to explode, resulting in all of us being ejected in our pods to the planet in mid approach."

"What do you think it was?" Dave asked, he was full of curiosity now, having put aside his animosity for the time being.

A low growl emitted from Karkat, at the look on John's face though he relented and answered the pale human. "All I remember is hearing someone yelling; 'No Jack, Stop killing them!'"

***EBCC***

Jade knew she was dreaming she loved to dream. In her dreams she was able to fly and see things that others couldn't, or wouldn't see.

The images that she saw in this dream were both nice and disturbing. Nice because she saw Rose and Dave and John, they were all happy. Laughing at something that some troll was doing. Rose was being held by a pretty troll that looked something like an intellectual just like Rose. Dave was between John and an obviously blind troll. Jade couldn't tell who he was closer to though. Then John, sweet John, he was kind of leaning against Dave like he always does when they are content, and yet his legs were casually draped over this trolls legs, while he absently twirled the trolls black hair in his fingers getting closer and closer to those nubby horns on the trolls head.

She had to see more, with a little concentration she went back in time from that point. It was always a strange feeling seeing herself, this time she saw herself with a strange man wrapped in sheets, not just any sheets; these were John's old sheets from when she had first met him about four years ago. It was right after the death of his dad.

Jade knew that the man she was with was important, she now knew why her and Rose were not around in the dream she had earlier about John and Dave being in the cave with a bunch of Trolls. They had been with this wayward vagabond.

With a start she woke herself up.

"What is it?" Rose gently asked.

"We have to go find someone." She replied vaguely.

Rose nodded her blonde head and asked, "Do you know who?"

"Not really…" Jade sheepishly admitted.

"So where is this person?"

"It's five people," Jade didn't know how she knew; she just knew that it was so. "And they are in some form of danger from this Jack Noir that conquered our planet. It will be a long journey, maybe two or three weeks to get to them."

"And fraught with danger right?" A twinkle in Rose's eyes at the prospect of a proper adventure without the boys.

Jade smiled slightly and nodded her dark head. "Everything will work out though."

"So anti-climactic."

"Sorry." Jade grinned at her friend, "Just leave a note for the boys and those trolls they are going to be with."

Rose proceeded to do just that as Jade packed a few meager supplies. Once they were heading towards the direction that Jade indicated, Rose was beginning to wonder just what it was about the other girl, she always knew things. Sometimes it was unsettling, other times it was downright creepy. All of Jade's premonitions though so far had been accurate. Well if it wasn't for Jade, none of them would have met each other, so they all owed the girl that.

Rose had been the most recent addition to the little group; she had joined them just a year ago. At least it seemed like a year now. It had been the fall of the year. Rose and her mom had entered a store that had some food supplies' still along with the alcohol that sustained mom; not knowing that one of Jack Noir's followers was in the store too, as well as John, Jade and a very noisy Dave.

Mom had made some comment about even after the majority of the population had been obliterated, how noisy kids still abounded the country. In other words she needed her remedy, which in this case was a bottle of vodka.

She was opening said bottle to take an unladylike swig when a gunshot echoed in the store. Glass shattered, the smell of the strong vodka wafted to Rose's nose like some heady perfume. That was mom's start of rage that had her turn towards the lone soldier and brandish the neck of the broken vodka bottle towards the over armed assailant. She had been spewing out something about respect etcetera, etcetera.

She fought like a lion defending her young. Only thing is; Rose knew that what she was truly defending was the dead bottle in her hands.

So deep in her thoughts, Rose was slightly startled when about an hour later, having walked together in companionable silence that only good friends could enjoy; a voice from the side of them said somewhat slowly, "Whoa, what the fuck Tav, they don't have any horns."

Rose and Jade both looked over; standing a few feet away was three trolls, two males and one female. Jade knew them right away and smiled at them.

More unsure, Rose watched the three of them as they approached.

"I think they are what are referred to as humans." the girl spoke very clearly and pronounced each word so that anyone could understand it.

"Whatcha mean Kanaya?" the same one that had spoken earlier asked. It looked like he had clown makeup on and his clothes were all black except his pants seemed to look like clown pants.


	5. Chapter 4

Karkat, Dave and John all left after eating the paltry meal that John had managed to fix. Karkat didn't know why he bothered with staying with them, other than the fact that he was bonded to John for the former saving his life. He just hoped that he would not see the other trolls while he was with these humans. Made him feel weak just the thought of the others seeing him with them.

Out of the corner of his eye he noticed how the two humans were interacting, they were close, he could tell. What had him a little upset was that he was a little jealous of Dave. Of how he would linger over his touches with John, how the two walked close together, even when they spoke it was more tender than normal. What he failed to realize was that it was all one sided, John was oblivious to the little claims that Dave made over him.

"Are my eyes deceiving me?" John asked as the sun was nearing the horizon.

"What do you mean?" Dave asked.

John pointed, everyone looked; up on the crest of the next hill was a building.

Dave hugged John closely, "Ah man, that is indeed a truck stop. We should find some good stuff there."

Karkat decided he didn't really want or need to know what a truck stop was. And just followed the two of them up the hill.

As they approached the closed doors, Dave pulled out his sword while John reached for his hammer.

"Hey man, you got a weapon?" Dave asked the troll.

Karkat ignored him; he did however pull out his sickle blade. He knew all the potential dangers of what could be lurking inside the building.

Dave was in front of John, almost as if he were protecting him. He motioned for Karkat to flank them, as if saying we have to protect John. That was when Karkat got the idea; these two were matesprits' that was why they were so close. This reinforced his belief that he could not be feeling red towards John.

As they entered the building, it only took a few minutes to make sure no one else was around, Karkat watched the two. John was so happy; he found a lot of cans of food, along with realizing the stove still worked. Dave found some packets of crackers and ripped them open to eat some.

Karkat found something that seemed to be the same thing opening it though he found a circular clear thing that he promptly went to take a bite out of, never once realizing that the two humans were now watching him, each one with a different expression. John with shock mixed with horror, Dave with humor.

Realizing it was not edible; he stuck it to his mouth and exhaled; causing it to expand.

The soft chuckle from behind him caused him to turn.

"That's classic," Dave commented as a whoosh of a sound came from the object in his hand.

"Uh… Car Cat," John nervously said next to him. He put his hand on Karkat's that was holding the deflating object making that offensive noise, all the while Dave was openly laughing now while holding his side. "That is a condom."

Karkat looked at it as John took it away. "What is a condom?"

"I guess you don't practice safe sex." Dave said as he calmed down.

"We have sex," Karkat admitted, he was not about to go into the intricacies of troll sex and the reproducing of the species though. No way in Hades was he heading into that subject, just the thought of buckets terrified him to the point that he roughly shoved John away from him and walked away.

Undeterred, John handed Karkat some chocolate, "Here try some of this." As the troll was about to decline, John shoved a chunk of milk chocolate into the troll's mouth.

"Where is mine?" Dave playfully pouted, as he opened his mouth for a bite also

John easily dropped a piece into the waiting mouth and paused in mid movement, causing Dave to gently bite John's finger.

"What is it?" Dave asked around the mouthful of chocolate.

"Batteries for my DVD/TV player."

All three of them looked at where John had pointed. Sure enough there were about a dozen packages of batteries and above them, as if sent from the heavens, were DVD's.

Among the many DVD's were four notable Nicholas Cage movies that John's hand was slowly gravitating towards. Con-Air, Gone In Sixty Seconds, Raising Arizona and Ghost Rider.

"Whatever." Dave said, while he himself walked around to the comics that had caught his eye.

"I think I am going to go get some meat." Karkat said, he was starting to feel strange, whatever it was that John had given him was starting to make him want to do sloppy troll\human make outs with John. And that would not be good for him if the two humans were indeed matesprits.

"Wait," Dave spoke up from the magazine rack, "I want to go."

"You should stay here and protect your matesprit."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"What is a matesprit?" John asked.

"You two are mates right?" Karkat asked, getting irritated now.

"No…"

"What's it to you?" Dave asked indignantly.

"You should stay and protect him."

"No, I should go and provide food for him. I can leave you here to 'protect him.'"

"Wait a minute here…" John began only to be interrupted by Karkat.

"Then lets have a competition, see who can bring back the best kind of meat for John to cook."

"Fine!"

"Okay then lets go."

"Uh guys…." John said into a now empty store.

Looking around, John found a can opener, they needed one and so he pocketed it, he also grabbed all the batteries and Nicholas Cage movies that he could find. He found a lot of makeup and hair care items that the girls would like, so he packed them away too. Back in the kitchen to the restaurant part of the truck stop he piled all the cans of food on the counter and got to work on a makeshift inventory.

All the while he was confused as to why the troll would think that he and Dave were mates. He didn't think Dave was a homosexual, and he didn't think he was one. So what in the world gave the troll that idea?

Finding better things to occupy his time, like the fact that he would finally get to watch Con-Air again. He still remembered the first time he saw that movie. It was with his dad when he was small.

His dad had loved the movie, and so John too loved it.

While thinking about that day so long ago, he came across a cake mix, it was Betty Crocker. Tears began to form behind his eyes. His dad had always loved making Betty Crocker cake mixes. Too bad, no eggs, he would have made it in honor of his dad, if only he had some eggs; then again, if he had the eggs he doubted he would make it. Just something about the name Betty Crocker…

It was at this time a noise startled him, he was not used to hearing the bell on the door, so as it rang, his first thought was that the other two were back. Or at least one of them, even though it had barely been an hour.

He was on his way back into the other part of the truck stop when he heard a female voice that sent shivers down his spine.

"Come on Tavroooooooos… I want to play a new game with you!"

John was not sure what to do. In his head he kept chanting two names, Dave and Karkat (even though he still called Karkat Car Cat).


	6. Chapter 5

_A/N: Sorry this is kinda late, my friend and I have been pretty busy this past weekend. So because this is kinda late there will be two chapter for everyone to read tonight. _

* * *

><p>John stood frozen to the spot, he watched the swinging door that connected where he stood to where the voice was coming from, he had several options to choose from. One he could stand there like an idiot and wait for whoever it was to come in and find him, resulting in his possible demise. Two he could go and confront them, he did have the element of surprise on his side after all. Three he could hide in the kitchen, resulting in the possibility of number one happening. Or four… well he did have three decent options open to him.<p>

It was too late; the door was swinging open as he stood there indecisive. Just like a fly caught in a web, John watched as a strikingly pretty girl stepped into the room. Only thing was, she was a troll, one with seven pupils in one eye and one in the other. Reminding him of a spider.

"Great….You are not Tavros."

"Uh nope," John nervously said, he didn't know what to make of the female troll, then he wondered if she knew Car Cat, well duh, he tried to be cool. She must, they are both trolls. Just like he knew Nic Cage….they were after all both humans.

"Marquise Spinneret Mindfang," the girl troll indicated herself, "and you are?"

Three names, the girl trolls had three? He asked himself. "I am John Egbert. Uh, should I call you Marquise then?"

"That is just my title."

"Oh, so you are Spinner?"

"Egad! No way, just call me Mindfang."

"Okay…" John slowly said.

"So what are you doing here alone human? I thought all the humans were dead."

John nervously laughed and said, "Uh, well you see I saved this one troll named Car Cat and he and Dave are out hunting right now, so you see, I am not alone."

"You met Karkat?"

"So you do know him?"

Mindfang snorted and rolled her eyes, causing John to have to look away so that he wouldn't have to see those seven pupils roll. "Know him? Know him? Ha! Of course I know that dork, he thinks he is a 'great' leader."

"So why is he called Car?"

"Car? You mean Karkat? K-A-R-K-A-T. Not Carcat, it is Karkat."

"Well that is good to know." John started to walk back towards the kitchen, he could have sworn he had seen some pasta here earlier along with some spaghetti sauce. He didn't want to admit that he felt a tad foolish now for getting the name wrong.

"So what are you doing?" Mindfang followed, "Can I help?"

"Sure, I am just looking for food to fix for dinner so when Dave and Karkat return we won't have to wait to eat."

"Hmm, Karkat is actually out hunting."

"What do you mean?"

"Well normally Karkat is a planner, not a action kind of guy. He also likes to talk and boss people around."

"Are you sure we are talking about the same guy here?"

"Yeah, dark hair, broody, little nubby horns. He seems to have a burr up his ass."

Yeah John thought, sounds like him. Digging around, he found all the pots he would need to make some spaghetti, even if the others did not get any meat, they would eat good tonight. He would also make enough to give Mindfang too. "So what is his deal?"

"What do you mean?"

"Karkat; why is he the way he is?" John acted like he was just mildly curious. "I mean, does he have a grudge against everyone he meets?"

"Well," the girl troll was thoughtful for a moment, "he has issues that only he knows about. He doesn't even tell Terezi anything."

"Who is that?"

"Terezi is one of his only friends, she is like what you would call a sister. At one time the others thought they would end up being matesprits."

"There is that term again, what is a matesprit?"

Mindfang looked incredulous at John, "You don't have matesprits?"

"Well Karkat did imply that Dave and I were matesprits so I was wondering what it meant."

"A matesprit is the one troll that you will have red feelings for all your life. You only have one."

"Red feelings?"

"Yeah… so you already have a matesprit?"

"I don't know. What kind of red feelings?"

"The troll (or human I guess) that you will always love and be with."

"Wait a minute." John started to blush as he realized what exactly a matesprit was now. "I love Dave like a brother, not a mate."

Mindfang smiled, "Ah so the great Karkat got it wrong? You don't have a matesprit?"

John blushed even more, he had forgotten about the task he had been doing before the shock of being mates with Dave had hit him. As a result the package of spaghetti noodles all fell out all over the floor, long strands of spaghetti noodles flying around him in a torrent. Some of which hit him and Mindfang.

"You should watch what you are doing." she reprimanded as one hit her right above her seven pupil eye.

John nervously laughed, stepping back; he tripped on some of the noodles and lost his footing resulting in him sprawling flat on his ass. His hands going down just in time so all he ended up doing was bruising his back side.

At the sight of him, sitting amidst the noodles, Mindfang laughed, she went to help him up; her hand was soft and didn't feel alien as she helped him up. Maybe they are not so different after all he thought as he stood up.

The young troll was thinking the same thing, she liked this human. Something about him was easy to like, she could now see what had compelled Karkat to stay with him.

They looked into one another's eyes briefly before John backed up against the counter, neither one heard the door open or the duo who walked in until a voice broke through their moment of bonding friendship.

"So this is what happens when I leave you alone too long?" It was Dave, and standing next to him was another female troll. This one appeared to be blind; she even had a cane; with which she was hitting Dave on the top of his head with, while she held his arm. All the while he was trying vainly to move away from her.

"Terezi," Mindfang said, "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing Vriska." the girl next to Dave smiled without any warmth.

"I take it you two know each other?" Dave said, "Well John, it seems we are destined to have trolls around us. This one is Terezi."

"This one is Mindfang." When John said this, a snort came from Terezi.

"Mindfang?" Terezi chuckled derisively. "Give me a break. Her name is Vriska. I would suggest you steer clear of her."

Before anyone else could say anything, another troll voice spoke up, "WHAT THE FUCK! TEREZI AND VRISKA, WHY ARE YOU HERE?" this one was Karkat, and he looked very upset as he dropped a young buck on the ground.


	7. Chapter 6

Karkat Vantas was not one to be fooled; all he wanted to know was why these two female trolls were here. He didn't mind Terezi as much as he did Vriska; both though were going to be a pain about why he was with a human. When they had all been on the way to this blue planet, he had been the one that had been adamant about not having anything to do with the weaker species that had populated it. And now here he was, staying with two 'weak' humans.

"I hear you are bonded to a human." Vriska slyly said to the only male troll.

"What?" Terezi chuckled; for the first time since she had met Dave, she let go of his arm and made her way to where Karkat was. "You bonded to a human?" with those words, she couldn't help the laugh that escaped from her throat.

Karkat glared murderously at Vriska, "Shut the fuck up spider bitch."

"Don't go there Kar," Vriska headed over to the male troll also, "I have not been able to find my luces and then I looked for Tav, all I found was this cute human that you assumed was mates with that one." she indicated John then Dave. "I am in no mood for you calling me a bitch, you know what I can do to you."

Karkat looked mildly shocked to hear what Vriska had said, he would file it for study later though, right now he was too concerned about these two toxic girls being near him and the human John.

"You can't find you're lusus either?" he asked the female troll.

"Nope!"

"Mine died." Terezi said with a slight hitch to her voice. At her words all eyes focused on her, in fact, Dave knew that the girl had been in tears only an hour ago when he had literally stumbled upon her amidst the debris of her crashed pod. If Vriska had not been here, Karkat knew that she would be shedding a few tears. "And she was so young."

John ignored the trolls as they were all talking at once about theories on what had went wrong in their arrival and in where the missing lusus could be. Dave too decided to ignore them and assist John in the task of skinning a section of the young buck and getting the meat ready for the meat grinder that they had found earlier.

Dave didn't know why but he kind of liked the blind troll, even though she had been hitting him periodically with her walking stick. When he had first spotted her, he had wondered why he hadn't left her alone, maybe it was cause he had found her to be vulnerable, and no threat to him.

"So where are the others?" Vriska asked. "We should try to find them."

"You just want to give Tavros a hard time." Terezi snorted.

"No," Vriska smiled in mischief, "I want them to see a bonded Karkat to a human."

"I am not bonded to him." Karkat tried to deny as he glared at the female.

"Is it true that he saved you?" Vriska asked while Terezi laughed.

"Shut up Vriska!"

"This is good." Terezi said, she put her hand on Karkat's arm, "What was it you told us as we were coming here?"

"Jack told me-"

"Shut up about Jack!" Terezi sternly said with a glare on her features. "This is all Jack's fault."

"You don't know that for sure." Karkat hesitantly said, even though he had heard someone mentioning Jack as he had been thrust into the nearest pod before blacking out.

"Imagine me rolling my eyes." Terezi sarcastically said.

"What do you know?" Vriska asked her toxic friend.

"I could smell the deceit radiating off of Jack."

Karkat harrumphed, yet kept quiet.

While the three trolls argued, Dave asked John; "So we are matesprits?"

Once again, John dropped what he had been holding, this time it was a pail of canned goods. When it fell all eyes riveted over to the two humans who were busy picking up cans and putting them back in the simple mop pail.

"Oh Gog!" Karkat moaned in dismay.

Vriska and Terezi both looked shocked.

"Uh John," Vriska hesitantly said as she approached the duo, "Why are you filling the bucket with things we will be eating?"

Karkat approached the two and pulled John up none too gently, "What the fuck are you doing?"

"What is the matter with putting the cans in buckets?" John was clearly baffled. Why would the trolls all be upset over it?

"John," Vriska glared at Karkat slightly and approached them, "Let me explain it to you." she grabbed John's hand and led him over to the corner of the room. They were huddled in the corner for about two minutes. Everyone watched as his face went from curious to embarrassment. Without a word, he returned and took out all the cans of food, placing them in wagons he saw in one of the aisles. Dave was watching all the while, however he was too cool to ask what was going on.

It was a few hours later, after everyone had gotten their fill of the venison spaghetti that John had made after his moment of embarrassment; Dave had stuck the booth seats together to make some beds for himself and John. The trolls said they would sleep on the floor. John installed the batteries into his portable DVD/TV combo and proceeded to watch Con Air with the others talking amongst themselves.

Terezi and Dave ended up dozing off halfway through the movie, Vriska, Karkat and John though all enjoyed the movie, taking a break from reality if only for a moment, the movie was crappy according to Karkat, however near the end, he seemed to be just as into it as Vriska and John. John and Vriska both had tears in their eyes as Nic Cage gave the bunny to Casey.

"Oh Cameron…." Vriska sighed and leaned against John in a mock faint while putting her hand against her head. "You make me so hot."

"I know what you mean." John too leaned against the troll.

"You should let your hair grow John. You would be even more cute."

Karkat snorted and got up, slightly holding his side as he did so.

"Oh yeah Karkat," John detangled himself from Vriska, to get up too, "Let me fix your wounds."

John led Karkat into the men's restroom with the flashlight and first aid kit.

"Hurry back sweet John," Vriska called after them. "I need you more than Karkat does."

John just smiled at the troll as he was too busy berating himself for forgetting about his wounded friend in all the excitement since they found the truck stop only six hours ago, yet it seemed like six weeks.

Alone in the bathroom, John removed the old bandages and as gently as he could; cleaned the wounds with bottled water.

"What is the deal with this Jack guy?" John asked.

"Well he is one of the most powerful beings on our planet, even though he is not a troll. He is ruthless enough that he has sort of been adopted."

"And Terezi doesn't like him?"

"Yeah, she always said that he was deceiving all of us, how could that be? I mean he was the one that made it possible for us to colonize this place. He found us this new home."

"You seem to like him."

"I guess he is okay, I met him a few times." Karkat admitted. "FUCK JOHN!"

John raised his eyebrow at the troll, "What?"

"Why would you want to put something on me that would eat my skin? Don't you care?"

John sighed in exasperation, "Karkat, it's just peroxide, you big baby."

"What is a baby?"

John couldn't help it, he started to laugh at the way Karkat had asked. When his laughter had died down, he was able to say, "A baby is a new person, you know the moment you are born, babies… wait you do have those right?"

At Karkat's blank stare, John sighed.

"Humans have babies, when we are born we are babies."

This time the troll understood, "Ah wigglers."

"Wigglers?" John smiled, "Is that what you guys call it?"

"So you think I am a wiggler? I am six sweeps old, you know. I was not hatched yesterday."

Now John really understood that they were two different species. As if the looks didn't explain that. "It is a figure of speech Karkat, don't take it literally."

Karkat just looked at John as the human continued to doctor the wounds. It amazed the troll how gentle the human's hands were as they poured the peroxide that caused his wounds to bubble, even when John applied this stuff from a tube onto the wounds, never once did he wince from pain. For being a troll, Karkat was fairly mild, not really liking too much violence, sometimes preferring romance over violence. Gog forbid the other trolls found that tidbit out!


	8. Chapter 7

His fingers trailed down Karkat's arm, and as the little electric shocks of the touch sent shivers through both the troll and the human, they looked into one another's eyes. The wound was starting to heal already; it was minor compared to the gash in his side.

Without realizing it, John's fingers were sliding towards the hand that was so close to John's leg, they continued to gaze into one another's eyes; then the sound of the movie out in the restaurant brought John back to reality.

Slowly he looked down at his hand as it moved away from the contact of Karkat's flesh, an unknown feeling taking a hold of him. "We better get back out there." he reluctantly said.

"If you say so." regret also filled Karkat's voice, along with a unknown yearning

.John picked up his mess, as he did so, Karkat watched him.

The young troll didn't know what to make of the human. He knew that something was changing in him, and he didn't know if he liked it or not. Why had John's touch caused anticipation in him?

Silently the two of them went out to where the others were. Dave and Terezi were asleep on one of the makeshift beds. Vriska was still watching Con Air; she barely looked up at them as they went into the room.

John put the first aid kit down and sat down next to Vriska to watch the movie once more. That was till thoughts of his father caused him to decide to go out for some fresh air.

He may be just thirteen; a kid in all respects, however when the trolls came to the planet and destroyed the bulk of humanity, it really makes you grow up fast. Everything had happened so fast that John was still sure at times this was all some bizarre dream he was having, and that soon he would wake up to the smell of his dad cooking something strange.

He didn't notice that Karkat had followed him till he flopped down on the grass to gaze up at the stars.

"This planet is nice to look at from up there." the troll said as he sat down next to John.

Both of them looked up at the sky for a moment before John let his curiosity get the better of him; "Earlier you said that you were six sweeps old. That means I am older than you."

Karkat looked over at John and shrugged his shoulders; he didn't know why the human had thought of that.

"So a sweep," John continued with his train of thought, "Must be like our year."

"Hey kid," a unknown voice startled both of them. "Get away from that troll."

John looked over to where the voice had come from; it was some adult with a machine gun aimed at them.

Slowly John stood up, he would not move from standing between Karkat and the stranger. "Who are you?"

"Look kid, just get away from that troll and I will explain everything to you later." the guy spat a wad of something brown from his mouth. It must be chewing tobacco, John thought. Even from this distance, he could smell the foul odor emanating from the guy.

Something within John said that if he moved, Karkat might die. The troll had become his friend in the span of a little over twenty four hours. No way would he move so that someone could hurt one of his friends. "No!" John edged even closer to Karkat, trying in his idiotic way to protect him.

"Kid, if I have to shot you, I will." the guy glared at John, "I am a soldier and those things killed my platoon. I will not stop till all of them are dead or I am. If that includes having to kill you, then so be it." This time the gun was aimed at John.

Everything seemed to be a blur from then on, at the ex-soldiers words John felt Karkat's hand briefly on his shoulder before Karkat himself launched through the air, right at the man.

John at first was frightened of Karkat, he looked ferocious. His sharp teeth were barred in a snarl, his yellow eyes seemed to glow with malice, all directed at the ex-soldier.

Unsure of what to do, everything was in slow motion, yet it all happened so fast; John watched as Karkat launched himself at the man. The two were a tangled mess, the gun went off… for a moment John held his breath, his first thought had been that Karkat had been shot, then he realized that the gun was pointing up into the sky.

The sound of the gun caused all other sounds that had filled the night air to cease, or that was how it seemed. John's ears rang with the sound; his heart seemed to flutter as the fighting duo fell down to the ground. Karkat was on top of the man; both of them were wrestling with the gun; which continued going off.

His feet finally worked, John rushed towards them, being careful to avoid the discharging gun, which thankfully was still aiming away from everyone.

"Stop! Karkat, stop it." John too grabbed hold of the gun. It was all the troll needed so that he could pry the ex-soldiers hands off the weapon.

John took the gun and tossed it away from the three of them, as he did so he noticed that Vriska, Terezi and Dave were all rushing for them from the truck stop. Having been alerted by the sound of the gun.

Dave and Terezi started fighting the man now too, while Vriska helped John off to the side. "Let them handle this." she told a shaking John. "What exactly happened?"

John couldn't take his eyes off the four fighting, now he was worried that not only would Karkat get hurt, but now Dave too. "Nothing, Karkat and I were just watching the stars and that guy showed up threatening to kill him."

A gleam lit the girl trolls eyes, "He likes you," she stated, "I think he is doing this to protect you."

"No…" John blushed slightly at her words.

Dave grabbed a hold of the ex-soldier and held him while Karkat continued to throw punches. Even though the man was now unconscious.

"I gotta stop him." John mumbled. He grabbed Karkat and pulled him away from the man. "Stop… Please don't kill him."

"He was about to kill you."

"What!" now Dave was upset and let the man go while kicking him in the side.

"He is just confused, he thinks you are the enemy and was upset that I tried to protect you. And Dave, you stop it too." John managed to pull the two away from the man. Terezi was laughing with glee, she just sat down on top of the man so incase he woke up she could do some more damage. "We cannot go around killing everyone."

"So what are we going to do?" Karkat was angry, "Let him kill us?"

"No," John thought for a moment, then he said softly, "Thank you Karkat for protecting me."

Karkat let the anger die down, "It is my job…"

"Oh yeah, your debt to John." Dave said, "So I guess you paid your debt in full, we can all go our separate ways now." he was pulling John toward him; away from Karkat.

"We can't just leave them here." John argued with Dave, not knowing why he wanted the trolls to be with them. "We are going to help them find their friends then we will go our separate ways. Is that okay with you guys?" he looked at the three trolls who looked shocked that a human wanted to help them.

"Ah fuck." Dave mumbled as the trolls all nodded in assent


	9. Chapter 8

After they had decided to all stick together indefinitely, much to Dave's displeasure, they all worked at dragging the guy into the truck stop. He nearly woke up halfway into the building, and then Terezi clobbered him hard on the head to which his head lolled back down into unconsciousness. Once he was inside, they tied him up with some rope that John found in a supply room.

"What now?" Dave asked no one in particular.

"We need to leave, others may show up and we just barely managed to subdue this human." Karkat said.

"He is right." John added, "Let's get everything we want and leave."

It didn't take too long to gather all the things they thought they would need, John and Vriska both got excited as they saw a stuffed bunny like the one in the movie Con Air. Luckily they had two, one for each of them, the other three in the group just rolled their eyes as John and Vriska took the bunnies.

Vriska hooked her arm in John's and made sure she was between John and Karkat as they left the truck stop.

By the time the sun was coming up, they were a good five miles down the road, roughly in the area where the day before Dave had stumbled upon John and Karkat.

"Let's take a break." Vriska tiredly said while leaning against an equally tired John.

Karkat looked at the others, he noticed that everyone was getting tired, the packs they carried and wagons they pulled had taken a toll on all of them.

"Fine." he agreed, "I will keep watch as you all get some rest." as he watched Vriska and John start to pull out the DVD/TV combo, he added, "Rest, not watching some dumb movie. If you can watch the movie than we can keep going."

"Who made you the leader?" Vriska pouted.

"I did," he said. "If you don't like it then go away." he looked at Vriska as if saying that she should do that anyway.

"If I go John goes with me."

"Like hell!" Dave spoke up before Karkat could say anything. "He is my friend, not yours or yours." he said to the two trolls that were having a stare off.

"Guys!" John said as he tried to get between the three of them, "Calm down, I am not going anywhere without all of you." he stressed the word all.

Terezi pulled on Dave and Karkat, "Let's just take it easy, I know that you all like John, so just fight over him when we get to where we are going."

"What do you mean?" John asked.

Vriska pulled John back and went in to whisper something to him.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU SAYING?" Karkat tried to get over to where Vriska and John were.

Vriska decided to ignore the bluster that Karkat was spewing, instead she said to John, "Terezi only means that we all like you and want to be with you."

"Oh okay…" John was unsure if he should be flattered or not.

"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU SAY TO HIM?"

"You don't need to yell Kar," Vriska was saying. "As to what I say to him, is my business unless of course you are claiming he is your matesprit."

"VRISKA!" Karkat looked furious.

Uncomfortable about where this subject was going, John cleared his throat and was about to say something when Dave came to his rescue. "Just leave John alone, all of you." he glared daggers at the two trolls.

John hedged away from both of them, sitting down on a pile of leaves on the ground, having to move a few loose stones from underneath. How in the world had he gotten involved with these trolls? Oh yeah, he reminded himself; it was all his own fault. He needed to take a moment to think, the petty bickering between Dave, Vriska and Karkat was getting to him, and to top it off Terezi was now adding her thoughts on all of it.

Just when he thought he would just leave them all and head back to the cave, he saw Rose and Jade with three more trolls. Now his head would really hurt he thought.

"It's a motherfuckin miracle!" the larger of the two male trolls said, his horns reminded John of a goat. The other male troll had metal legs and horns that seemed too big for him.

Vriska was the first to react, "Tav!" She would have ran straight at the smaller male troll had Karkat not held her back.

"If it isn't my motherfuckin best friend!" the first troll said. He quickly reached them and hugged Karkat to him.

"Get off me you fuck ass!" Karkat said as he tried to get away from the other troll while still holding onto Vriska's shirt. "Gog what the fuck is that smell?"

"It's a miracle," the troll went on as if not offended by how Karkat was trying to get free of him, "I been lookin for you for ages."

"Maybe a hour." The newest female troll said.

"Kanaya." Vriska coldly said.

"Who are these new trolls?" Dave said he was getting more and more upset. In his head he did a mental count; six of them now, and knowing his luck, more would join before the end of the day. What was a decent God fearing, human to do? Well ok that God fearing was a slight exaggeration, make that a Bro fearing human.

Jade sat down next to John as Rose made the introductions. "Kanaya, this is John and Dave, I take it you know them three; John, Dave this is Kanaya, Tavros and Gamzee."

John was thankful then that it was Kanaya that introduced the girls to the other three trolls. He looked at Jade and wondered what the deal was. She seemed overflowing with happiness.

"What's been going on?" he asked her quietly. Thankfully everyone else was busy doing theirown thing and not paying them too much attention.

"It's all coming together nicely now." Jade told him.

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know," she sheepishly admitted. "All I know is that everything is going according to the plan."

"Wait a minute," John held up his hand, "What plan?"

"The plan to take back our planet so we can live in harmony with them."

"With them huh? I don't think that Dave will be too pleased." he glanced over at Karkat and realized that the troll was watching him as well. Their eyes met and something intangible passed between them. It was hard for John to look away, yet if he didn't he felt as if he would suffocate, for he had stopped breathing as they gazed at one another.

"Don't worry; soon he will come around to thinking differently." Jade put her head on John's shoulder, breaking the spell Karkat had over John.

* * *

><p><em>AN: Oh my gosh guys! We want to thank all of you who read, reviewed, alerted and favorited this fanfiction so far. You guys are amazing, and We love you all. The next chapter should be up some time tomorrow. See you guys later_


	10. Chapter 9

John had no idea what Jade meant, he didn't know if he wanted to know or not. Leaning closer to her, he asked "So we are going to overthrow the enemy."

"With the help of a few others."

"That is what, couple of thousand against us?" It was a good thing that it was John and not Dave talking with Jade.

Dave had heard, "I like those odds." he grinned. "How many do I get to kill?"

"What are you two talking about?" Rose asked from across the way.

"What we have to do." Jade replied.

"What do you have to do?" Karkat joined Jade and John, sitting as close to the latter as possible.

"We are going to war!" Dave grinned evilly.

"Can I join?" Terezi too grinned.

"Tell me how I can help." Kanaya added.

"We going to go to war bro?" Gamzee asked Karkat.

"I guess so." Karkat said, "Now tell us the plan." he said to Jade.

"Simple," Jade smiled at everyone around her, "We kill Jack Noir."

"How is that simple?" Vriska asked while eyeing Karkat, who looked somewhat shaken.

"Why him?" Karkat swallowed the lump in his throat.

"Yeah," Vriska added, "According to Karkat; Jack is just 'misunderstood.'"

"We Need To Think About This, If It Is As Easy As You Seem To Think Then Would It Not Have Been Done Already? I Say We Think Of A Way To Go Back To Alternia."

"Honk."

"Uh, do we … uh have to do this? Uh … I mean can't we just all live in peace?"

"Tav, just listen to the humans, I think it smells like a plan."

"Terezi! Fuck, why does everyone want to kill him? He is not as bad as you think."

John stood up and started to repack his wagon. This was going nowhere fast. Dave was the only one who realized what he was doing and stood up to help.

"So tell us why we need to help a bunch of humans." Karkat was talking to Jade, when Vriska went to interrupt, Karkat just glared and said, "Let the human Jade girl tell us the reason before we agree to anything."

Vriska glared at Karkat and kept quiet, soon forgetting that she had been upset with the way Jade talked, she was unsure if she should be bored or fascinated.

"Yesterday my dream showed me all twelve of you trolls along with us." she indicated herself, Rose, Dave and John, who were just leaning against one another next to the wagon. Both of them looked tired. "Don't worry," she added to Kanaya's unspoken question, "They will join you all soon enough."

"Honk."

Ignoring Gamzee, Jade continued, "In the dream, Rose and I were not with you all, we were with a person that goes by the name of Wayward Vagabond, a Post Mistress, a White Queen that abdicated her throne and gave it to the Post Mistress. Aimless Renegade who wore caution tape was once a General or something I think."

"Honk!"

"Gamzee shut the fuck up."

"Honk."

"It's okay," Jade said. "Anyway, Rose and I need to find them and meet back with you all at the crossroads."

"What crossroads?" Dave sleepily asked. John was dozing on Dave's lap, his thin arms around Dave's waist, and it was making Dave feel just as tired.

"Don't worry Dave; just keep an eye on John for us. You will know where to go when you need to."

"Why do you have to be so cryptic?"

"I don't know everything."

"Honk!"

Dave absently started to rub John's back as he adjusted himself to fold over John.

"Are those two matesprits?" Kanaya asked Rose.

"No," Rose said as everyone was deep in their own thoughts, "They are just real close. Dave though does love John, so just ignore how he is. I don't think they function well alone. Together though they are great. I think you would consider them moirails, or something between that and matesprits."

"Rose," Kanaya hesitantly touched the pale girls arm, "Are you sure you don't want me to come with you?"

Rose recalled the time through the night, while her and Kanaya had sat up keeping an eye on the sleeping trolls and the female troll had explained about troll romance and the intricacies that all trolls endured trying to find their matesprit. It had seemed that the two girls had bonded, Rose didn't mind, Kanaya was pretty and almost human like; at the time as they sat on the cold hard ground and snuggled together for warmth, all boundaries had been crossed. Rose was not sure how the others would think; she just knew that it felt right. And now Kanaya wanted to go with her, it touched Rose, even though she would not show it.

"I am sure Kanaya. I think they will need you. And I will be back; Jade told me that we would all be together later."

Kanaya nodded her head, having faith that no harm would come to Rose. She just wanted to be with the human girl, she knew that her future would revolve around Rose. She had figured it out earlier when Rose had fallen asleep in her arms.

Now as Kanaya watched the two male humans sleeping, she noticed how Karkat seemed to be watching them too. So that is it, the wise troll thought as Karkat too made his way over to where they slept, she would have laughed if it had been anyone else. Karkat disentangled the humans and cuddled up with them also. As it was; she smiled as the self-appointed leader of the trolls started to rub the dark haired humans head, smoothing the dark tresses away from the sleeping face.

Gamzee and Tavros were going through things in one of the wagons, searching for the ever elusive faygo that was Gamzee's drink of choice.

"Uh Gamzee," Tavros said softly, "I don't think they have any…"

"Honk."

Terezi patted Gamzee on the head and said, "We didn't get any, there is some though at that hive place we were at. We left a human there though that tried to kill John and Karkat, so if I were you, I wouldn't go there."

"Oh don't worry; we have more at our cave." Jade said, knowing what it was that Gamzee wanted. "What happened?"

Gamzee didn't say anything; he just continued searching the wagon.

Vriska snorted while Terezi said, "They were outside and some human man tried to kill Karkat and John wouldn't let him, so he threatened to kill John too."

"That was when Karkat lost it." a slight chuckle was heard from Vriska as she added that part.

"I did not lose it, "Karkat had to force himself to keep quiet, so as to not wake the two humans up. He didn't realize that both were still half awake.

"It's a miracle; Karkat has a thing for the humans." Gamzee smiled. "I thought he was being too rash when he said to not get attached to them. And here he is attached to them."

"Not them." Terezi smiled, "Just one."

"Shut up Terezi."

Terezi just smiled and said, "So what color is it Karkat?"

"You are just as bad as Vriska." Karkat mumbled, "Now let me get some rest."

"As if you need it…" Vriska said.

"I take offense to that Karkat, I am deeply wounded."

"Good, maybe you will keep that fucking air hole quiet now."

"I am not so bad Karkat." Vriska pointed out.

Tavros snorted lightly.

"Yeah," Terezi commented dryly, "All you did was paralyze Tavros, kill Aradia, and made Sollux even moodier than he already is, and blind me… Isn't that all in a trolls day? I mean we all do things like that, so why are you any different?"

Hearing it said like that made Vriska realize that maybe, just maybe, she shouldn't have done that to Sollux, the other three had deserved it though, I mean anyone that wrongs a troll deserves being punished, and her ancestor would have done much worse. As for Tavros, well she was the first to admit that was an accident, after all hadn't she meant to kill him?


	11. Chapter 10

Karkat couldn't help it, as they walked towards the makeshift cave/hive that the humans had claimed, he just kept glaring at Vriska's back, and she knew it. Occasionally she would turn around and give Karkat a smile that said ha, I am the one with John, not you. To which Karkat would have gotten pissed, yet Gamzee and Tavros kept bugging him about why it was that he was with humans, aptly keeping his anger that should have been directed at Vriska towards them.

John and Dave were leading the small group through the wilderness towards the cave, next to John was Vriska; she had latched her arm around John's. Terezi just held onto Dave's arm while occasionally hitting him on the top of the head if he went too slow or fast, which was often; much to Dave's chagrin. Between Dave and John and behind them a little was Kanaya. She was deep in her own thoughts while trekking through the forest. Following her was Karkat with Tavros and Gamzee flanking him, both of which kept a constant chatter. Sometimes Karkat wondered how anyone followed Gamzee's train of thought, he would jump from subject to subject so often that Karkat's thinking pan was beginning to get a dull ache.

"Ah home sweet home!" John said pointing up ahead at where a small opening could barely be seen in the side of a mountain.

"What the fuck!" Dave exclaimed as they spotted yet more trolls.

"Friends of yours I hope?" John asked as he paused next to Dave while the others caught up with them.

Vriska eyes them, pushing her glasses back onto her nose better, making John smile down at her. "Yeah," she said, "It's Sollux, Aradia, Nepeta, Feferi, Equius, and Eridan. That is all of the trolls we came here with. All twelve are accounted for."

"Didn't I hear them earlier say you had killed Aradia?" Dave asked Vriska.

"Technically she did." Terezi said.

"Damn Equius brought her back to life though." Vriska didn't seem too upset about it.

"That's why she looks like a robot now." Karkat startled them, except for Terezi, with being so close.

"It's another motherfuckin miracle."

"Some miracle," Vriska stated as she allowed John to lead her up to the mouth of the cave where all the other trolls were waiting.

Eridan looked the worse for wear, his cape was in tatters and he kept whining about some swamp, and how he would never forgive Nepeta for shredding his 'precious' cape. Feferi too was looking unusually somber with swamp sludge on her, Equius and Nepeta were both cleaning themselves, well Nepeta had taken it upon herself to clean Equius, while the muscular troll just sat there watching the group of two humans and five trolls heading towards them.

Sollux and Aradia were busy with trying to calm Eridan down while he ranted. They looked fine, a little bruised, but no trace of swamp sludge that the other four had.

After the introductions and the explanation as to why the trolls were with humans, which seemed to last for an hour, while Gamzee worked on his fourth Faygo, John and Dave collapsed on their small makeshift bed. They promptly cuddled and once more fell into a deep sleep. Vriska and Terezi cuddling up to them and listened as Aradia and Sollux told their story.

"We had just left Alternia when things started to go wrong." Sollux said. "Aradia and I were the only ones that were in the lab when Jack showed up."

"What was Jack doing on the ship?"

"Karkat just let them explain; then we can ask the questions." If anyone other than Kanaya had said that to the self-appointed leader; he would have blown a fuse, as it was, he held a lot of respect for her so he listened to her advice.

"It was just Jack luckily, he did something to the environmental controls for the lusus, then tried to do the same for all of us, luckily we stopped him before he could kill all of us."

"Well it was mainly you Sollux." Aradia said while absently doodling on the dirt floor of the cave. Even Gamzee seemed to be paying attention now.

"You helped out too," Sollux stated firmly before continuing, his lisp was barely noticeable as they all wanted to know everything. "Well we were able to make him think that whatever he had done had worked, just barely though. And for the rest of the trip we had to work at fooling him that it had worked. Just as we were approaching this planet, he must have realized that his plan hadn't fully worked. He was getting ready to blow the ship up, so Aradia and I set the pods to launch, we were able to get you all in them before the ship exploded."

"I am so sorry Karkat…"

Karkat looked shocked, "What do you mean Aradia?"

Aradia looked away before Sollux explained the lisp fully evident now, "He stabbed you before we could shove you into your pod."

Now that Sollux had mentioned it, the memory came back to him, Karkat had been minding his own business; looking out the port window at the blue planet. He then had realized that the bulk of the planet would be water, something that would make Feferi and Eridan happy no doubt, he had thought, when Jack showed up along with Sollux. He remembered wondering why a pain was searing him as Sollux shoved him into his pod.

"The human John helped me…" Karkat said, his gaze was on the sleeping John. He wished he could be the one the human was sleeping against. OH Gog! Where had that thought come from? He was seriously getting too attached to these humans, well technically one of them. This was not good…

"So then after he stabbed you, Aradia and I tried to get to the last two pods, trapping him on the ship; he realized what we were doing though and got the head start. Launching himself into mine, leaving us to share Aradia's."

"So where is he now?" Equius asked, absently he was flexing his muscles while watching Gamzee swig more of that Faygo.

"All the pods were on nearly the same course. They are all within a certain radius of one another." Aradia took over now; she drew a circle on the dirt, with an x off to the left side of it. "Ours landed here," she indicated the x. "If my thinking is right, then he could be just on the other side of this hill."

Nepeta squealed and clung to Equius.

Vriska and Terezi both involuntarily shielded the sleeping humans.

Gamzee and Tavros looked at one another; absently the latter scooted closer to the former.

"OH FUCK! OH GOG! WHAT THE FUCK! OH MAN, OH JEGUS FUCKIN BALLS, WHAT THE FUCK DO WE DO NOW?"

"We keep calm, so as to not disturb your new human friends." Kanaya said, indicating John and Dave who were stirring slightly.

"We have to protect those weak humans." Karkat said, calming slightly, as he watched John. "I can't let him die."

"You have the life debt to him don't you?" Sollux asked.

"Karkat has paid it already." Vriska said as John mumbled something in his sleep and buried his head into Dave's neck.

"And you still want to protect him?" Sollux asked, "Do you have red feelings for this human?"

"Gog, I don't know," Karkat reluctantly admitted. "I just know I can't let Jack or anyone else kill him."


	12. Chapter 11

It was late that night, John and Dave had slept all day and Karkat thought that they would sleep all night. One by one the trolls started drifting off to sleep as well.

Sollux was still up trying to get his notepad to work. Aradia had left to go find Jade and Rose, much to Kanaya's chagrin of not being able to go too.

On the humans make shift bed, John stirred, slowly he opened his eyes, not realizing that Karkat was watching him, he kissed Dave on the forehead and sat up. When he moved, Dave rolled over for the first time since they had all gotten there. Cautiously John detangled himself from being wedged between Vriska and Dave.

As he climbed over Dave, Terezi, Nepeta and Equius; John noticed for the first time Karkat watching him.

"How long did I sleep?"

"All day." Karkat watched as John sat by him. "Your sun will be coming up soon."

"It's our two day anniversary."

"What do you mean?"

"It was two days ago that I found you." John said in way of explanation, "By the way, I need to check your wounds, Rose told me to do it last night, but no one woke me up."

Karkat was thankful for the darkness and the fact that humans couldn't see in the dark like the trolls could, for the thought of how John seemed to hold this 'anniversary' as something special, caused a warm feeling to take control of Karkat. He himself had been thinking something similar before, yet he never expected the human to think the same.

"Let's do it outside then." Karkat said; he didn't want the others hearing or seeing him being 'taken care of.'

"Okay." John easily agreed.

Once they were a distance from the cave, having only caused Gamzee to pull Tavros closer in the corner they were sleeping in, due to the noise, John revealed the healing wounds. Some of which were no longer needing bandages thanks mainly to Rose's healing salve that she had applied on Karkat before they had parted ways with them.

"Ow!" Karkat mumbled as John applied the iodine to the gash in Karkat's slender abdomen.

"Do we have to go through this again?" John softly teased the troll, "Do you want me to kiss it all better?"

"NO!" Karkat said a little too loudly and quickly; obliviously, John didn't notice.

"So tell me something," John said as he bandaged the gash with his gentle fingers, "Why did you think that Dave and I were mate… uh… mate thingies?"

"Matesprits?" Karkat asked, "cause the way you two are so close. You both act like it."

"He is my best bro; I love him like a brother. And besides I am not a homosexual."

"What the fuck is a homosexual, wait I don't think I want to know. Well I still hold to that, oh and stop being so close to Vriska. You should stick with humans and we should stick to trolls."

"Is Vriska your matesprit?"

"GOG NO!" Karkat nearly glared at John.

"So who is? Vriska said something about you and Terezi."

"None of your fucking business."

"Just thinking that you two would make a cute couple."

"Shut the fuck up John Egbert."

"Well either way," John ignored the glare that Karkat was sending him, "I think that whoever you love will be lucky, deep down you are a softie. Like a teddy bear…"

"What do I have to do to shut you up?"

John took the hint and kept quiet for the rest of the time of treating the wounds, when he was done he sat down next to Karkat and scooted closer for the warmth. They were touching, not intimately, yet to Karkat it felt intimate. He was only mildly uncomfortable. Part of him wanted to pull the human closer, another part of him wanted to push him away.

"So tell me what was your home planet was like?"

The question caught Karkat off guard; he looked over at John, "I guess that it was nice. I didn't scrutinize it."

"Was it bigger or smaller than Earth?"

"What is with all these questions?" Karkat wanted to know.

"I am just curious as to what your home planet is like."

The troll nodded his head, "Not much different than here, it was closer to our sun though so we couldn't go out in the day, which was what caused Terezi to go blind, Vriska had controlled Tavros into doing some stuff to cause Terezi to go out in the day and look up at the sun."

"So it was hotter than here?"

"I should think so," Karkat contemplated the question, "Well sometimes the weather was this cold."

"It will get colder here don't worry. Oh and soon it will start to snow. Don't know when, all I know is that it soon will, cause of the fact that it has been fall for over a month. See how all the leaves are off the trees? That means that winter is near."

Karkat didn't ask any questions, and John didn't explain further. They sat in companionable silence and watched the sun rise over the horizon.

"This is one of my favorite times of day." he told the troll, "When I was younger, my dad used to bring me out to watch it."

"What is a dad?"

"He was my parent." at Karkat's blank expression, John said; "the person that took care of me from when I was a baby."

"Ah your lusus." Karkat nodded his head in understanding. "Ours are probably dead too."

"I'm sorry about that Karkat."

"No big deal, I wasn't too fond of mine anyway; not that I wanted it dead."

"What exactly was your lusus then?"

"He was a crab." When John softly chuckled, Karkat added, "No, seriously, he was a crab."

"So is that why you are crabby sometimes?" Karkat teased.

"I am not crabby!" Karkat was leaning closer to the human.

"Yes you are." their faces were now inches apart.

"Here you are." Dave spoke up, startling John and making him back away from Karkat. He didn't know why he had felt the need to get so close to the troll.

"What do you want?" Karkat indeed sounded crabby now.

"Be careful," Dave said with a warning undertone to his voice, "You take off with my best friend, to God knows where, and I am supposed to say whatever, you are a troll for fuck's sake. That means you are the enemy, I still don't trust you."

"What about Terezi, and the others?" Karkat stood up, getting in between John and Dave. "Do you trust them?"

"Hell what do you think?" Dave seemed to be near his breaking point.

"I think it is just me you have a problem with." Karkat said, "In fact I think you just want to make sure that John stays away from me."

"Whatever," Dave closed his eyes.

Karkat knew why he was upset, he had been getting closer to John and Dave had ruined it with showing up. Of all his rotten luck, just when he had realized that he did indeed have red feelings for John, something happened to ruin the moment. He failed to realize that maybe John would have rejected him. So it was for the best.

John stood up, "Dave," he grabbed his arm, "come on let's just get back and forget this happened. I just wanted to treat his wounds."

Dave contemplated what john said, gazing long and deep into John's eyes. With a shrug he turned away and said, "Fine! I just came out here to find the fucker and tell him that his troll friends are looking for him. They want to discuss a plan."

"Go on Karkat," John told the troll, "We will be there in a few minutes. I need to talk to Dave."

Karkat nodded his head and headed back to the cave, leaving the two humans alone.

"Dave," John said when they were alone, "What is the matter?"

Dave looked away from John and said, "I don't know, he just irritates me. He is like a splinter under my nail that won't come out no matter what I do."

"Are you jealous of him?"

Dave snorted and still didn't look John in the eye.

"Look at me Dave," John reached out and moved Dave's head so that they were looking at one another, and then John leaned in and their foreheads touched, "Why are you jealous of him?"

Dave tried to look away, "I am not jealous."

"Okay then," John held Dave firmly in place, "What is the matter then?"

"I just don't like troll that much."

"You seem fine with Terezi."

"She is blind and it is kind of ironic," he licked his lips then continued; "She is no threat to me."

"Ah so now we are getting somewhere." John seemed happy. "How is Karkat a threat to you?"

"He wants you…"

"Yeah, he wants to be my friend…"

"No… he wants you wants you."

"You mean…"

"Yes, he wants you pinned under him or on him or whatever they do."

Nervously John laughed and let Dave go while he himself moved away. "I don't think he wants me that way."

"John look-"

"NO!" John turned around so fast that it startled Dave, "Don't talk about this. I don't think you know what you mean when you say that, I know that he is lonely deep down and wants a friend, I will do that for him."

Without waiting for a reply, John left, leaving Dave alone. "But John, what about me?"


	13. Chapter 12

Dave knew that he should get back to the cave, he took a few deep breaths before he too followed John to the cave.

"Okay now that we are all here." John said as his best friend returned, he was sitting next to Vriska and Dave sat across from him between Terezi and Karkat. "What is this plan you came up with?"

Sollux looked at everyone sitting around in a circle. "We need our recuperacoons."

"What the hell is that?" Dave asked.

"It's like a pod." Terezi said to him. "Where we can rejuvenate. We can sleep anywhere; it is just that in these we rejuvenate better."

"In other words it is like sleeping in a chair compared to a bed." Dave said as he understood what Terezi had said.

"So, "John said, "you all want to get these so you can sleep better."

"Yep!" Terezi said happily.

The plan was that Dave, who had found a troll base not far from them, would lead Karkat and Sollux to it than all the others would pack up all the supplies and head to this ditch that was along the road near where the base was. They would meet up there and John and Dave would stay with the supplies and a few trolls while the rest went to raid the troll base.

"Why do we have to separate?" John asked.

"So that we get in and out as fast as possible. We will need to get moving quick after; otherwise the elder trolls could track us easy."

What Sollux said made sense. John had to admit that he did not want to encounter any adult trolls, the ones he was with were scary enough, and these ones were somewhat friendly. He did not want to encounter a mad one.

Feeling eyes on him, John looked up and noticed Karkat looking at him with something that confused John. Then it hit him, some of these trolls were going to be risking their lives for this recuperacoons.

Shaking his head and looking away from the troll, John added, "I just think we should all stick together."

"John," Dave said before anyone else could. "This task is a dangerous one, I myself want nothing to do with these adult trolls, you and I will wait for them with whichever trolls want to stay with us."

Eridan spoke up, "I will stay and protect the humans."

"Figures." Equius commented dryly, "So will Nepeta."

"No fair," Nepeta complained, "I agree with the human, I think we should all stay together."

"I do not want the humans near the adult trolls." Karkat stated firmly.

"Why not?" John asked.

"I paid my debt to you, and have no obligation to protect you from the older trolls, and that is what we would end up having to do."

"They are brutal." Vriska added as she shivered.

"Yeah if Vriska says they are brutal than you better believe it." Terezi added.

"So it is settled then," Sollux said as he got up, "Let's go human Dave, come on Karkat. You did volunteer for the scouting mission."

John was about to say if Dave got to go then he too wanted to go, then it hit him how childish that sounded. So instead he silently watched as Dave led the two trolls away, towards the troll base he had found a few days ago. Unease settling in the pit of John's stomach.

John got busy as soon as the trio left. The trolls that stayed with him helped pack all the food and supplies they had. Only occasionally grumbling, which the big strong troll would glare at them.

It only took an hour to gather everything, and then they too left, heading to the culvert that was on the old abandoned highway, between the truck stop and the troll base.

Equius, the strong troll, carried ninety percent of the things. Including his little friend Nepeta, who sat perched on his shoulder.

It only took them three hours of steady walking to reach the ditch that was along the road. They were getting colder now too, it seemed like a early snow storm would soon be upon them. John wasn't sure, so he just kept quiet. Weather had always been Jade's thing. She could tell what the weather would do, and with her and Rose now who knows where, John would not be able to predict anything.

The only ones that stayed were Eridan, Feferi, Nepeta, John and Dave when the others returned from their mission. Karkat looked like he was about to say something to John, when Dave glared at him though, the troll just shrugged and walked away with the other trolls.

"Do you think it will snow?" John asked as he added another jacket while wrapping Feferi and Nepeta in a warm blanket.

Dave looked at John and shrugged, "If it does, I hope those trolls don't panic."

"So what was that troll base like?"

Dave started to pile the supplies up so that the five of them would have some shelter as they huddled in the ditch.

"What is snow?" Feferi asked as Eridan joined her and Nepeta in the blanket, grumbling about the cold and losing his cape the entire time.

"Snow is like frozen water that falls from the sky," Dave said to her, "I think that it is nice, you can build snowmen and snow angels."

"It is pretty when it snows." John added.

"Damn cold though." Dave added. "'Ohh… I can't go any further than this…. I want you so badly it's my biggest wish…"' Dave mock serenaded John, "Remember this song?"

"Was it BEP?"

"Yeah… Meet me halfway."

"What brought that song up?"

"I thought of it while we were at that troll base." Dave said as the two humans continued to make the measly shelter warmer. "I thought if anything happened to you while I was there that it would be horrible; promise me that you won't do anything foolish with that damn troll."

"What the hell are you talking about Dave?"

"Look," Dave changed the subject, "It is starting to snow."

Sure enough slight snowflakes were slowly drifting down from the sky. The air seemed to get ten degrees cooler.

Feferi and Eridan huddled together for warmth, while John and Dave huddled together on the other side of them. Nepeta sprawled out on all four of them like a cat would; she turned her face up to the sky to watch the snow falling when a few flakes landed on her.

Just like a cat, she hissed and burrowed underneath everyone saying she hated to get wet.

***EBCC***

Karkat hadn't wanted to leave John alone with the other trolls and Dave, he had wanted to have John with him, yet he knew that would have been bad, John would not be able to stand up against an adult troll.

Earlier Dave had told him to back off John, that John didn't need the complication that Karkat would provide the human. Karkat had thought that Dave was just jealous and was going to blurt out his feelings earlier when he had felt the way John's friend had glared at him. Now as all of them were heading down the highway with the sun starting to go down and the air getting colder, Karkat hoped that John would be okay. Eridan was not the best at protecting others, Nepeta was okay, yet she was so young acting, Feferi would do decent, yet if an adult troll were to attack, they would all be easily overpowered. For the first time he wished that Vriska and Terezi had stayed with them too.

They were not even at the base yet when the white cold stuff fell from the sky, panic filling him, he nearly ran back to the John human to make sure they were okay.

Sollux trudged on through and all the other trolls took their cue from him.

Not once did one troll complain about the cold or the wetness. They all knew that had the other three accompanied them, which would be all they heard. As it was these eight trolls were all fairly stealthy. Tavros and Gamzee on occasion pausing to have a drink (in Gamzee's case, Faygo), or just to observe the area.

By the time they reached the base, it had been dark for some time and getting colder and wetter as the white stuff fell from the sky. It was also starting to stick to everything; like a blanket.

At the edge of the base, Sollux gasped. "No way!"


	14. Chapter 13

_A/N: Sorry it took a while to upload this, I have been pretty busy personal issues. So once again here is two chapters to make up for missed time. Oh and we would like to that everyone who has been reading, reviewing, and adding this to story alerts and favorites. It makes us happy to see people are enjoying this fanfiction so far._

_Now on with the story!_

* * *

><p>"What do you see?" Karkat asked as he got closer, which he didn't need to be told, the base was a inferno. No trolls were around, they all appeared to be dead. Two buildings were still standing. "Let's go check those out."<p>

With the white stuff covering them and the darkness, the eight trolls headed towards the two buildings, they were in luck. In one of them was what they were searching for, only six though. The other building had about ten. They were about to carry them when Karkat saw a thing that looked like a box, it had wheels though so they organized everything in them, having to move a few dead trolls as they worked.

Mutilated adult troll bodies littered the area. One was still alive, though as Kanaya tried to talk to him, he spluttered and purple troll blood spilled forth from his mouth, hitting Kanaya on the cheek. He died moments later, with terror etched on his face.

"I'm going to be sick," Karkat said at the sight, "Oh Gog! What the fuck happened here?"

Tavros and Gamzee tried to move one especially large troll that was nearly split in half, resulting in the dead troll falling apart, Tavros had the legs while Gamzee had the head. Something vile settled in the pit of Karkat's gut as he noticed the lack of horns on most of the dead. The more that Karkat saw the more he felt ill.

"Who could have done this?" Vriska was shocked, never had she imagined that the elder trolls could possibly be defeated this brutally.

Terezi sniffed around and coughed, too much smoke in the air played with her sense of smell, making her hold on to Karkat. "Either the humans or Jack. What was it like earlier when you all were here?"

"Just like a troll camp, there were about four adult trolls on patrol and we counted twenty others." Sollux said, "The human Dave said that this used to be a military base for them. So maybe it was the humans."

"I don't think so," Vriska said, "The human we encountered at that hive was mean, yet not brutal enough to do this."

"I don't think Jack would have done this though." Karkat wanted to stick up for the troll general even after all that had happened.

Terezi mumbled something unintelligible about how stubborn some trolls were, no one else said anything. They all knew that they had to hurry.

Once everything was secure, they all started to move the object that had wheels, "Why don't you all get in it to keep warm," Equius said after they were out in the cold once more, right before the building they had been in only moments ago started on fire. "I can pull it easier than all of you."

Sollux and Karkat walked alongside Equius while the strongest troll among them proceeded to pull the load.

"We need to be on guard." Karkat said as they headed back the way they had come. "Whoever did this could still be here."

"Or they could be heading straight for the others." Sollux said without realizing what his two companions would do.

"Hurry it up!" Karkat tried to urge Equius who was also going at a near run while pulling the large thing with wheels.

"Nepeta!" Equius said, "Please Gog, let Nepeta be safe."

Karkat was thinking of John, earlier he had the feeling that he should have taken the human with him, he had ignored it, and if anything had happened to his friend/maybe more (?), than he would never forgive himself.

Once they were a little bit away from the burning base, Terezi poked her head out the flap where they were all huddled, "Wait a minute." her voice was barely above a whisper.

"What is it?" Karkat asked as they halted, he hated to stop though and was fast reaching the point of panic over John.

"I smell Jack." her voice was soft as she spoke.

"Where at?" Sollux nearly demanded.

"Up ahead. Off to the left a ways." Terezi said.

"I want to go ahead." Karkat said, it was not a request, it was an order, "The others may need help."

"Fine," Sollux said, "Take the girls with you, we can follow."

Karkat knew that Sollux was just as worried about the others; he had started to have red feelings for Feferi and was concerned about the young empress. Terezi would be able to avoid Jack and thus that was why the girls were to go with Karkat. Vriska and Kanaya would come in handy if needed.

Equius would be able to follow their footprints, and if need be, Tavros was a decent tracker.

Karkat didn't wait for the others; he took off at a run.

The white stuff was falling harder now, nearly causing him to not be able to see, even though trolls could see good in the dark, with the white stuff, it was near impossible. "I hope they are okay." Vriska said next to him.

Glancing over, Karkat realized that she was just as worried. Had it been any other day, he would have scorned her concern, however he knew that for some dumb reason, John liked her too, and so he kept quiet.

When they got to where they had left the others panic filled Karkat's thinking, they were nowhere to be seen. The white stuff was still coming down and as they walked it was covering their feet, the sun was also out on the other side of the heavy clouds. All they could see was a few clumps of piled white stuff, and one large pile of it.

"Where the fuck are they?" Karkat asked

Terezi sniffed at the air and moved around the area, coming to stop near the large pile, "I think they are in here."

Karkat tore into the pile of cold white stuff, revealing first a sleeping Nepeta that seemed to realize that moisture was now falling on her so she buried her head in between Feferi and Eridan. Absently she kicked Dave in the head who then rolled over and revealed a peacefully sleeping John. A slight hiss emanating from Nepeta's throat, slowly she opened her eyes and looked at Karkat.

"Karkitty…" she leapt into the troll's arms knocking both down to the cold frozen ground, resulting in all the others groggily waking up. "Keep that yucky snow off of me."

"What the fuck Kar," Eridan blustered as he too got out of the relatively dry pile they had been buried in, "What took you guys so long? We nearly died last night when it started this white cold snow the humans told us about."

"So it is called snow?" Vriska asked as she looked in awe around her at the beauty of it.

"Karkitty," Nepeta said before Karkat could say anything, "Where is Equius? Is he okay?"

Vriska and Terezi both laughed then glared at one another for both of them to think it ironic that they found Nepeta amusing.

"They will be here soon," Kanaya said for Karkat who was busy detangling himself from Nepeta while watching John and Dave emerge from the make shift shelter. John helping Feferi out while Dave helped John.

"The base was in ruins," Karkat said to the two humans, "Did you all hear anything?"

Dave snorted, "We were huddled in that cave of snow all night. How could we hear anything? And what would you want us to have heard?"

"So you are all okay?" John tried to glare at Dave for being rude while talking to Karkat.

"All the trolls were dead." Vriska hugged John while Terezi added more blankets around Dave.

"So were you all able to get those things you wanted?" John asked as he jumped up and down trying to warm up, along with suppressing the urge to build a snowman, or in the least have a snowball fight with Dave.

"The mission was a success." Karkat said, "In fact here come the others now."

Sure enough, the others were approaching, Equius pulling an old army truck.

"Wow! Does it work?" Dave asked as he headed towards the truck. Sollux on the hood leaning back against the windshield, Gamzee sticking his head out from the back, Equius halted when he saw Nepeta, it was a good thing too; for the female troll abruptly left Karkat to throw her body against his large one to be engulfed in a warm (and dry) hug. Inside the truck Tavros was moaning from the way they had gone so fast in this ill weather.


	15. Chapter 14

While Dave was inspecting the old truck, John gathered a snowball and tossed it right at Karkat, laughing as he did so. If it had been anyone else, the troll would have killed them, as it was he just looked at the grinning John and as soon as John went to make another snowball, gave chase to the human.

John squealed as Karkat chased him, without aiming, he tossed the half formed snowball at the troll and tried to duck behind a tree before Karkat caught him. To his dismay, a patch of ice was under his feet, affectively sending him flat on his ass; in this moment was when Karkat caught John. He landed on John's lap, grabbing him so that they both rolled around in the snow.

Laughter trailed out from John's mouth. It was so soft and melodic that Karkat wanted to hear it all the time. He admitted to himself, this was his matesprit. In fact John was his everything; sure he was a troll who had found in a human all the qualities that he secretly desired, that didn't mean that he was any less of a troll. It just meant that as a troll he was evolving. In a way he had to thank Jack for all the damage he had done, if he hadn't done it, then Karkat would not have met this enchanting human that was so lovable.

"Mercy!" John said as Karkat pinned the human to the frozen ground.

Karkat had John's arm and proceeded to tickle the helpless victim.

"Karkat…" John laughed, "Mercy… it means stop."

"So you want me to stop?" Karkat said softly into John's ear from behind him. "Will you stop throwing round cold balls at me?"

Snorting, John said, "I did not throw a cold 'ball' at you. I threw a snowball at you."

"So you admit it," Karkat's hand trailed under all the layers of coats and under the sweater that John was wearing. His breath tickling John's neck as he said, "If you throw another 'snowball' at me, then you will get this punishment."

Groaning, John tried to suppress the laughter that was threatening to spill forth, Karkat was tickling his sides, John had never realized that he was ticklish there. "Fine," John barely managed to say, "Just stop tickling me."

"What are you two love birds doing?" Vriska teased, she knew the troll courtship. Karkat was treading a strange path, skipping the acceptance and jumping right into the four-play.

At her words, John blushed, "We are not lovebirds…"

"Vriska," Karkat sat up so that he was no longer on top of John, however he left his hands where they were. "Mind your own business."

"I wanna play too though." She sat down and helped John up, "Tav won't play with me, Gamzee that idiot keeps moving him around, whatever happened to his legs?"

"I think it was you…"

"Kar, that is just mean!" Vriska pouted, "I meant the legs that Equius gave him."

Karkat shrugged his shoulders, "They were on earlier."

John looked over to where the troll in question was being carried back and forth as they worked to load all the supplies into the old truck. "I think we should help." he got up to go over to them, missing the warmth of Karkat's hand on his skin. Why the hell would he miss that, he wondered. He never missed it when Dave, Jade or Rose touched him then walked away.

Shaking his head in bewilderment, he started to load things into the truck just as Dave got it running.

"Okay everyone, hurry up." Dave yelled as he pampered the truck into not spluttering and dying. "Only two others can ride up here with me, everyone else in the back."

"I can ride in the back." John said.

"No you are one of the two that will be up here with me." Dave said.

Shrugging his shoulders, John helped with the last of the supplies then got into the cab of the truck. When he had put his box he had carried into the back he had spotted two robotic legs in a heap, the cat girl, Nepeta had been guarding them.

"I will ride with you two." Karkat said as he got in after John.

"Great…" Dave dourly said. He had wanted John and possibly Terezi, not the bane of his existence.

"This should be fun." John said as he settled comfortably against Karkat so as to give Dave room to drive. "You do know how to drive right?"

Now Dave grinned, "How hard could it be?"

A sinking feeling settled in the pit of John's stomach as Dave shifted the truck into first gear, the grinding grating on his nerves that were beginning to fray.

Other than the jerky way Dave drove, the first hour was pleasant. The old highway didn't have too many cars on it, and those that were on it were off to the side of the road, the truck didn't slide in the deep snow either, which was a plus. They saw a old farm house up ahead around noon, and decided to stop at it to warm up and loot the place.

***EBCC***

Rose sat on the chair, she had decided to wait on Jade to wake up on her own instead of trying to wake her up. She allowed her thoughts to drift to one very pretty troll, when she had first met Kanaya, Rose hadn't liked her too well, then when they talked more, she had realized how much they had in common. In fact they had so much in common that it startled the petite blonde. And now not even a week later, she was missing the troll. What evil creature had crawled within her and planted the seed of love? She was not immune to it, even though she acted like it sometimes. When she had first met Jade, she had felt a little attractiveness, not enough to pursue though.

And no, Rose did not call herself a lesbian; like so many would have in the past, she considered herself to be free, she loved who she did, and that was that. She knew that her mom would have eventually accepted it, and the other three would also. That was all she cared about. If the guy on the street couldn't accept it, or called her a freak for loving the same sex, just think what that same person would think if he knew she loved someone of the same sex that was an alien to them.

A slight smile flashed over her face as she thought of that.

So lost in thought that when she heard someone enter the small shack they had found, Rose nearly fell out of the old rocking chair. Looking up, her first thought was that it was Kanaya, for a female troll stood in the doorway looking in on them. It was not to be though, this female was different, and she had ram horns on her head and looked even more aloof than Kanaya had. She also looked like she was made out of some sort of metal, like she was a robot.

"Who are you?" Rose asked, putting her knitting down, keeping the needles though, just in case she needed them.

"Sorry for interrupting," the troll said, "My name is Aradia. Sollux and the others are with your friends."

"What about it?" Naturally Rose was suspicious.

"They are friends of mine." she explained, "We are wanting to help stop Jack too."


	16. Chapter 15

_A/N: So who's looking forward to seeing the next update for Homestuck today? _

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><p>John sat up; he had been dreaming of his dad. At times he missed him more than imaginable, other times he was fine, this was one of the former. Dave rolled over in his sleep and reached for him, yet it was Karkat that took him in his arms instantly and held him. It made him cry, the thought that his dad had been killed by a troll, and here was a troll giving him comfort.<p>

"Sshh…" Karkat absently rubbed his back while the tears flowed down from John's eyes to get the trolls neck wet. Yesterday, after they had looted the old barn and farm house, John had decided that they would stay the night here and get a fresh start in the morning, Sollux, Gamzee, Equius and Karkat taking watch so that they could all sleep without worry.

Being half asleep, John curled up to the warm body that held him; his arms went around Karkat's waist and he laid his head on the troll's thigh. The hand that rubbed his back in soothing circular motions causing his body to relax and slowly he drifted off to sleep once more.

"What do you think you are doing?" It was a whisper, yet held a touch of malice.

Looking over, Karkat noticed that Dave was now sitting up and just looking at the two of them. "Comforting John." Karkat replied to the other.

"How is it that you have gotten this hold on him?" Dave wanted to know.

"Honestly I don't know how." Karkat was tired of having Dave second guess him all the time. "Can't you just be happy that John is not going to be hurt by me?"

Dave grumbled something unintelligible before reluctantly saying, "If you ever hurt him, I will hunt you down like a dog, and make you wish for mercy, but see, I won't give it to you, I will take pleasure in killing you slowly, then I will revive you and do it all again."

Karkat looked at Dave and sneered, "I would expect no less," he was slightly offended that Dave would think that he would harm John.

"I think you went about it all wrong," Terezi sighed from the end of the bed where she was resting.

"Who?" Karkat asked.

"Dave," Terezi said, she stood up and grabbed his hand, leading him sullenly out of the room where Karkat and John were now alone.

"What the hell do you want Terezi?" Dave asked as they were alone in the hall.

"I think you need to take a moment to evaluate this situation." she was saying, "I am blind, yet I see how things are with John and Karkat, you do not know this, yet Karkat would never hurt anyone he cares about. He is a big wriggler if you ask me, then again he hides his emotions 'cause as a race, he has to be tough. Once you get to know him though you too will realize how romantic he is. And if John is his matesprit, than John will have nothing but care from Karkat, even if you think it's not, he will show nothing but devotion to him."

They were standing in the hall between the bedroom they had just left and the bedroom where the other trolls rested; Dave was coming to his senses and did in fact realize that Karkat had never once hurt John and most likely never would. "Fine you win Terezi;" he leaned against the wall, "What do I do then? Will he even accept my apology, if I was to give one?"

"Nope…" Terezi said without hesitation, "You won't apologize and he won't accept. Simple yeah?"

Dave couldn't help it, he smiled, just slightly, somehow this blind troll already knew how he was, she was more observant than a person that could see. "Tell me how you got the way you are…"

"One word?" Terezi grinned, "Vriska."

"Ah that explains the animosity." Dave pushed himself off of the wall. "Come on," he grabbed her hand, "Let's go back and get some sleep."

"You sleep; I will keep my eye on you."

"We should have brought your recuperacoons in then huh?" he asked as he opened the door once more.

"It's okay," Terezi teased, "I will just keep a nose on Karkat."

"What are you talking about Terezi?" Karkat softly said from the bed, he kept an eye on Dave and his hand on John's back, keeping John in place, it almost looked like he was protecting John from Dave of all people. Feeling a momentary stab of loneliness, Dave got into bed and was glad when Terezi cuddled up to him.

"I can't see…" she mumbled in contentment as she curled up to Dave. "So I was going to keep my nose on what you do, don't want John to be alone too long now right?"

"What the fuck Terezi!" Karkat said, even though his voice was raised, John slept on due to the soothing caresses that the troll applied to his back, from the shoulders down to his waist. "Why would John be alone with me here?"

"You are supposed to be on watch correct?" Terezi commented in a lazy drawl.

"Shut up you two," Strider complained. "We have a long day tomorrow, I want to get south. As in warmer weather."

After that the room was silent, when Sollux entered to get Karkat, he grunted in distaste, Karkat was sitting on the bed, the human John snuggled up on his lap. Holding the human John was the other human, and behind him was Terezi. A big pile of red emotions all getting tangled up with each other.

Feeling sick to his stomach, Sollux decided to go back to Vriska, at least that was something that he was familiar with.

Having the sun streaming on your face if you are a troll was not a pleasant way to wake up in the mornings. That is if you are a troll; however the memory of the previous night made up for that in Karkat's opinion. He now felt as if he and Dave had come to an understanding the night before, one that concerned John.

John was still in his lap. Karkat didn't mind, in fact he hated the thought of John leaving, even as John woke up; stretching his arms and nearly hitting Karkat in the face as he moved.

"What time is it?" John sleepily asked, not too shocked to be in Karkat's embrace, liking it in fact.

Dave and Terezi were both gone, leaving John alone with Karkat.

"I think it is just after sunrise." Karkat softly said.

Wow, John thought to himself, this side of the troll was nice, he could get used to it. Out loud he asked, "Where is Dave and Terezi?"

"They left about five minutes ago. They said to join them when you woke up."

"You should have woken me up…"

"I couldn't, you looked tired still."

"Uh… Karkat?"

"Yeah?"

"You could let me go now."

Karkat felt dejected by those little words, "Okay…"

He knew that he needed to take it easy with John, that voice inside of him, the one that was all dopey about John, said as much. Yet at that moment he wondered what John tasted like, how it would feel to kiss that mouth that smiled so easily, would it be as heavenly as imagining it, or would he be disappointed. He believed it would be heavenly. Watch out, he told himself, that romantic feeling was starting to get the better of him and he would do something that he regretted later, or worse, John would hate him over, and no way could Karkat allow that in his courtship.

Reluctantly he let the human go, watching him gather his meager things together so they could leave.

"What do you think that we should do to get control of our planet be?" John asked as he changed shirts, showing Karkat his naked torso. "Awhile back you said that you didn't think it was Jack we needed to go after."

"I still don't think it is him, I think we need to go after Lord English, the same thing that Jack is going after." Karkat didn't know what to do; John was half naked as he was digging around in his back pack for a clean shirt. It was getting to the young inexperienced troll, standing up; he looked away from John and contemplated his meager options. He could leave, and miss the humans company, he could kiss the human, or he could ignore him. He opted on the first one using Sollux as an excuse. "I need to go see if Sollux finished the tracking device he had been working on."

"Okay," John said, "I will be out there later." he didn't even watch as Karkat left the room, so busy was he in trying to decide what to wear.


	17. Chapter 16

_A/N: This is another late chapter and we both apologize for it. We both have been very busy and the only time we were able to be on the computer for the past couple days was spent on MSPA. We hardly had time to write this chapter. But we somehow got it done. We don't know when the next chapter will be uploaded, because we will still be really busy this week. Sorry for the inconvenience._

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><p>Snow covered the landscape where the old farmhouse was, the tracks from them getting there yesterday were completely obliterated. John found out that Dave, Terezi, Sollux and Karkat were all in the barn, so he and Vriska headed out into the bitter cold morning.<p>

The sun was shining brightly, yet the air was cold, add to that the wind, and the short walk to the barn had both John and Vriska shivering. Inside the barn smelled like hay that had been in there since the dawn of man, as if John knew what hay was supposed to smell like, he just knew that this smell was more than a little pungent.

Terezi kept wrinkling her nose at the smell, and even Karkat seemed bothered by it.

Dave and Sollux were busy putting the gadgets on the truck that Sollux had worked on all night.

Seeing Vriska shivering, John took off his coat and helped her into it, to which she promptly wrapped herself around the kind human to try to keep him warmer. "How much longer?" John asked.

Karkat looked mildly upset as he noticed the way John and Vriska were keeping each other warm, looking away he said, "They just got the thing on the front so that the 'truck' wouldn't get stuck. And then I guess they need to put those chains on the tires."

The thing on the front looked to John like a snow plow, and as a youngster, he had always seen truckers putting chains on tires to get through bad snow. "Need some help?"

Dave looked up for the first time, grinning like a kid on Christmas morning, he said, "We got it just about done, if you want to go get the others, we will meet you all at the farm house. Oh and Terezi and Sollux are riding up front this time so that Sollux can learn how to drive this thing."

"Do we have enough fuel?" John asked as he nodded his head.

"We filled it up here; luckily we got the generator to working just a little bit ago and were able to pull all the fuel from that farm tank over there." Dave said as John, Vriska and Karkat went out of the barn.

Karkat sighed outside, John was rapidly getting colder and colder, he wrapped his arms around him also, then in sheer frustration, he scooped John up and carried him to the house bridal style. Much to John's chagrin and Vriska's amusement.

Inside the relatively warm house, John went and found more blankets while Karkat and Vriska rounded up all the other trolls.

Once the truck was by the back door, John and Karkat made a nice bed in the back of the truck for all the trolls and them. Gamzee had to make do with Pepsi instead of Faygo, which he said didn't taste as good but for now would suffice. He said it more like grunting when Vriska asked, then when Tavros asked, he informed them that it would have to do.

Alone with nine trolls in the back of the truck, John was only momentarily nervous, it was Karkat that eased his mind with the way he held him so that he wouldn't bounce around.

"I have a game we can play…" John said as the truck bounced around.

"Ohhh…." Nepeta said, "Is it a fun game?"

"I love games." Vriska added.

"You would…" Karkat said to the strangely happy troll.

"I think its fun." John said, "It is a way we can all get to know one another."

"Sounds fun to me." Feferi smiled, if John hadn't known better, he would have thought that this troll was a human, she was sweet and considerate, she showed more human emotions than the others did. She was also one of the prettiest John had ever seen.

John blushed slightly at her smile, which Karkat scowled.

"So what is this game?" Tavros said as he was readjusting his legs after one of the many bumps in the road, causing all in the back to jostle around, all that is except for John. When Gamzee noticed, he took Tavros into his own lap so that the crippled troll wouldn't be jostled too much.

John looked around the back of the truck and asked Gamzee, "Could you hand me that Faygo bottle please?"

Gamzee looked at it and grinned, "Sure thing little bro." he handed the bottle to John. "Anything with Faygo I like."

Vriska snorted, "We all know that Gamzee… Now put Tavros down so he can join the game too."

"I don't think I want to play right now." Tavros said, "Maybe later."

"What are you Tav?" Vriska asked, "A grub or a troll?"

Reluctantly Tavros got off of Gamzee's lap and positioned himself once more between Gamzee and Equius.

"Can we get on with the explaining now?" Karkat asked as he reluctantly put John down next to him. "What is this game we are going to play John?"

"It's called truth or dare." John held the bottle up, "We spin this, and whoever the mouth lands on gets asked truth or dare by the person that spun it. And it goes around in a circle from that."

"Why don't you start John?" Vriska said.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

Everyone nodded their head, Eridan looking skeptically at the Faygo bottle.

"This way we get a feel for the game." Vriska added.

"Okay then here goes." he placed the bottle on the makeshift bed in the middle, "We have to form a circle…"

Everyone gathered around the bottle. To John's left was Karkat then Kanaya, Gamzee, Tavros, Equius, Nepeta, Feferi, Eridan, Vriska, and finally back to John. John spun the bottle and watched as it twirled around, landing on Tavros.

"Truth or Dare Tavros…" John said to the troll.

"Uh… truth?" Tavros said hesitantly.

John would start with an easy one, one that would let the other trolls get a feel of how the game was. "Do you like this planet?"

Tavros looked like a deer caught in someone's head lights, "Uh… yeah I guess so."

"You either do or you don't." Vriska said impatiently, "What if I disagree with him?"

"Then we have to debate and figure out if he is telling the truth, and if we think he is lying then we ask him to do a dare, and he has to do it." John explained. "I think he is telling the truth."

Vriska snorted, "You don't even know him enough." then seeing the way Karkat glared at her along with Gamzee, she said, "But I agree with you. So who is next?"

"Karkat is, then Kanaya… See how it goes?" John asked all of them.

Karkat took the bottle, and spun it. It slowly landed on Vriska of all people.

"Truth or dare, Vriska?" he said.

"Dare!" she exclaimed. She was glad that she was the first one to get a dare

"What now?" Karkat asked John.

"You dare her to do something."

Karkat got a gleam in his eye and said, "Okay Vriska, I dare you to give Eridan a kiss while rubbing his horn."

Vriska was about to say no, she reluctantly leaned in to Eridan and slowly placed her lips onto the surprised ones of Eridan, while her hand was rubbing his horn.

John noticed that Nepeta was hastily drawing something while she watched, licking her lips in concentration as she drew. Equius was starting to form a thin layer of sweat on his brow, which he hastily wiped off with a towel. Feferi and Kanaya were both trying to ignore the entire scene. The others all watched in fascination, including John, he was quickly wondering what it meant to feel the horns that way, and he recalled when he had first seen Karkat and how he had felt his horns that way.

Vriska pulled away from Eridan with catcalls from Nepeta and Feferi.

"Who's turn is it now?" Vriska asked, feeling slightly uncomfortable.

"Kanaya." Karkat handed the bottle to the thoughtful troll. Absently she spun the bottle and as it slowed down it landed on John.

"So are you going to choose this truth or the dare?" She asked as she had perfect punctuation.

"Uh, truth."

"Wimp." Vriska teased.

"Vriska," Kanaya admonished, "Keep out of it,"

"I was just teasing."

"John," Kanaya said, "Do you have flushed feelings for anyone here?"

John gulped, flushed feelings meant more than friendship, and at that moment, John answered truthfully, "No."

"I disagree…"Vriska said, "He has them for me… Right John?"

John laughed, and shook his head no. "Next person is Gamzee." He tried to change the subject.

"Dare!" Gamzee blurted, obviously not having paid much attention to the proceedings.

"No fuck face," Karkat said, "Your turn to spin the bottle."

"Righ' bro." Gamzee picked up the bottle and kissed it before putting it back making it move only an inch so that it would land on Tavros. "Truth or dare Tav… you decide." Gamzee said with a wink.

Tavros blushed, "Uh… wh- Dare."

"I dare ya to do to me what Vriska did to Eridan." Gamzee smiled like the cat that ate the canary.

Tavros was flustered, he looked around amidst all the chaos of catcalls and hoots of the other trolls. Settling his gaze on John who was also blushing for him. "Ri-right now?"

"Tavros," Vriska squealed, "Just do it… I have always wanted to see it."

"What happens if he doesn't?" Kanaya asked above the fan girl squeals coming from Vriska, Nepeta and Feferi.

"He has to," John explained, "he picked dare, so he has to get the courage to do it."

Tavros hesitantly leaned over to Gamzee and kissed him. It was a brief kiss that had everyone, minus a few, booing. Equius and Eridan were even booing.

"That was not the same kind of kiss." Nepeta pouted, "you also didn't touch his horn."

So once more Tavros leaned in to kiss Gamzee and his hands went up to fondle the base of Gamzee's horns. Cheers went throughout the truck. Up front, Dave, Terezi and Sollux were wondering what was going on. Terezi would later be upset that she missed the action of the day.

Tavros was next, he spun the bottle so hard that it seemed to take a long time in stopping, when it did, it landed on Eridan. The troll smiled and said, "Dare." before Tavros could even ask the mandatory truth or dare question.

"Uh," Tavros stammered, "I dare you to throw your cape away."

"Good one Tav." Karkat said, all the other trolls nodded their heads in agreement.

"No way!" Eridan held on to the offensive garment as if his life depended on it.

"You have to." Karkat stressed.

"You did choose the dare Eridan." At Feferi's words, Eridan looked at her as if saying you too?

"Fine then I quit." Eridan said, "Spin again Tavros."

"Can he do that?" Karkat seemed a little upset that Eridan would choose that torn smelly cape over them.

John nodded his head and motioned for Tavros to continue. "He should leave the area though."

"Fine…" he stood up and sulked to where the recuperacoons were roped to the sides.

Once more Tavros spun the bottle, this time it landed on Nepeta. "Uh, truth or dare Nepeta?"

"Truth."

"Why do you like to pair people up?"

"Perfectly good reason," she grinned. "I want everyone to have someone."

Equius nodded and put his hand on the bottle, something within John started to panic. He didn't know why till the bottle landed on Karkat. "Truth or Dare!" Equius asked the troll.

"Dare!"

"I dare you to kiss the human John."

Nepeta shrieked, Feferi laughed, Vriska did a loud catcall, and John felt as if he would die of embarrassment.

Meanwhile up front Terezi squealed and said, "Yummy, something back there smells good."

"What?" Dave asked, "What is it?"

"Sloppy human/troll make out session just started." Terezi nearly flew out the windshield of the truck as it screeched to a halt.

In the back of the truck, John had barely felt Karkat's mouth on his when the truck suddenly stopped. All of them were tossed around, Karkat managing to hold onto John yet their lips parted. A large pile of trolls and one human landed on top of Eridan.

In the midst of all this, Karkat yelled; "Who the fuck has their hand on my bone bulge?"

"Oops that would be me." Gamzee laughed, "For a moment I thought it was Tavros."

Tavros flushed as the flap at the back was opened to reveal Dave.

Dave stood in the opening, his glasses askance and he was breathing heavy.

"Hey man…" Gamzee said, "Do you need a towel?"

"NO more Make Out sessions with humans." Dave was really pissed to totally forget about his glasses, "And why the fuck would I need a towel?"

"Well uh, you look like Equius when he needs one, so I just assumed that you were needing one considering no buckets are around for ya."

"You better get those buckets off of your mind." Dave said, "From now on, if I hear one more word outta any of you, I will make you walk."


	18. Chapter 17

_A/N Hiatus time is hopefully over for now. You guys won't believe the week I had. Hardly had anytime to rest. Now guys can look forward to daily updates once again. :) _

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><p>They were sullen the rest of the day, Vriska, John and Karkat though played cards, troll style. Kanaya read a human book that she had found at that old farmhouse. Nepeta and Equius talked quietly while Eridan tried to make advances towards Feferi, Feferi though wanted no part of it and entertained herself with playing a troll question game with Gamzee and Tavros.<p>

Night had fallen when the truck stopped and everyone got out to stretch their bodies. There was less snow on the ground here so they had been heading steadily south.

John looked around; they were in the middle of nowhere. "Where are we?"

Dave started to make a snowball, "South of where we were, that's all I know. We did pass a sign though that said something about so many miles to Nevada and another one saying something about California. We are on the California one."

"Heading to Mexico?" John wanted to know, "Is that the plan?"

"Well anywhere that is warmer, and California does sound good right about now."

John smiled, "Yeah… a few years ago my dad said he would take me here to Disneyland."

"Hey." Dave grinned, "We could still go."

"Nah, it's too dangerous right now." John smiled his thanks for the way Dave was thoughtful. "Maybe later though okay?"

"It's a date." Dave said, "We can take all the trolls to Disneyland and in place of troll horns they can wear mouse ears."

At the image that brought up in John's mind, he laughed. It felt good to laugh once more with Dave, to feel like there was nothing wrong in the world and that life was going forward. "Can you see Karkat wearing those mouse ears?"

Karkat glared at John for making fun of him, "What the fuck are mouse ears you idiot?"

"It's these things you put on your head to look like Mickey Mouse." John held his side as he laughed while trying to explain to the hurt troll.

"And why do I want to look like Mickey Mose?"

"Mickey Mouse," John was laughing so hard at Karkat's expression, "Not Mose."

Luckily, Dave and Terezi had taken the others aside and were keeping them busy while John and Karkat were alone; John laughing while Karkat looking upset. Truth be told he was happy that he could make John laugh, yet he didn't like to not know what was so funny. And so the quandary began, he continued looking perplexed, John continued laughing at his expressions.

"What the fuck is so funny?" Karkat asked, trying to not show his irritation too much.

"Oh Karkat." John grabbed the trolls arm and tried to stop his laughter, however at his touch, Karkat jumped and looked more startled, which caused John to start laughing even more.

"If you do not stop your laughter," Karkat said mildly upset at himself for being the bane of John's laughter. "I will make you stop." He didn't know how, he just knew that he wanted to stop this incessant laughter. Then he knew, he would kiss John. That would stop the laughter. It would also make his day, since the others had caused him to be unable to finish the kiss that he had been dared to earlier.

Karkat lowered his mouth to John's and caught him off guard. The kiss was a sweet one and Karkat savored the way John's mouth molded to his, that is till John came to his senses and gently but firmly pushed the troll away; the job of kissing him though did the trick, John was no longer laughing. Confusion filled the blue eyes that looked up at the troll.

"Why did you do that?"

"I told you to stop laughing at me." Karkat managed to say. He wanted to lean down and kiss him again, something in John's expression though stopped him, Karkat wondered if maybe he had done the wrong thing.

Absently, John raised his hand to his mouth, he could still feel Karkat's lips against it, he hated to admit it felt good, so he ignored the way his pulse had quickened and how his lips tingled now. He was not homosexual; at least he didn't think so, so how could he have liked the way Karkat's mouth felt so wonderful pressed up against his?

"I'm sorry," John said as he blushed. He should be more careful from now on, he thought to himself. Yeah right, his heart was thinking, just admit it, you enjoyed that kiss.

Shaking his head, John left Karkat alone.

Karkat was having a argument with himself too, only his was more brutal, his inner self was gloating over the way John had felt as he kissed him, another unknown part of him was berating himself for doing something so aggressive so soon. He needed to give John space to grow accustomed to him being his matesprit, and not ruining it by pushing his own desires onto him.

"John," Vriska interrupted John's thoughts, "Let's go for a short walk." she latched onto his arm and guided him away from the others a short distance. She had witnessed the kiss and wanted to find out what John thought of it. She liked John, as a 'friend' she guessed, it could be more if she wanted it to be, yet she knew that it wouldn't be good for John.

"Did you want to talk to me about something?" John asked.

"I saw that kiss," she blurted, and as she said it, a blush spread over John's face. She thought he was so cute this way.

"It was all my fault."

"Karkat likes you."

"I know, and I made him angry that is why he kissed me."

"No, he thinks you are his matesprit I think."

"WHAT!"

"You don't have to yell." Vriska said as she glanced around to see that no one was paying them any attention, at least no one other than a glaring Karkat. She smiled at Karkat and turned John so that John could not see the other troll. "John, how do you feel for him?"

"I am not a homosexual." John managed to say through his shock.

"What is that?"

"Someone that likes the same sex."

"He is a different race though first. Would that bother you?"

"No…" a tiny voice inside him said than why not go for Vriska? Another voice said that it was not Vriska that had his blood rush through his body, caused every fiber of his being to come alive, to be able to laugh at and be kissed for it… wait what the hell was he thinking?

"What is the matter than John?" Vriska leaned onto him, "If I kiss you will you feel the same?"

Before she could even get close to kiss him, he had backed away. "Oh my God!" he covered his mouth and felt on the verge of tears. "I am so sorry Vriska."

Vriska laughed softly and said, "Why should you be sorry? I am the one that needs to apologize to you." And to Karkat, she silently added. Now she knew, John had already accepted Karkat's matespritship, even if he didn't yet know it.

John looked at her and smiled, "No need to apologize to me. I just don't feel too good right now, so if you could tell everyone that I am sleeping I would appreciate it." With that, John left her alone.

Karkat was quick in getting to where she was, "What the fuck are you doing Vriska?"

"Putting some irons in the fire." she smiled coyly at him. "And I will roll the dice once more, I will only say this once, sorry for attempting to kiss him, he didn't want me to anyway." with that said, she left him. He was too stunned to follow her.


	19. Chapter 18

_A/N: This chapter is filler, it should be titled 'reflections' in which it deals with John's past. Please, this chapter is crucial to the story, so before we continue it needs to be told why and how John and Dave are so close and their true relationship; reviews are greatly appreciated. Sorry it is so long. Now on with the damn story already…_

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><p>For everything in life, John had worked fairly hard for; including his very survival, since the death of his dad. To fully understand John, we will take this moment for him to reflect on the past, about his dad, about how he had met Jade and how he met Dave, Dave who was like a brother to him. As for Jade and Rose, they were like his sisters, he loved them, yet not as deep as he did his brother, just like two real brothers loved one another deeper than they loved their sister, it was not that they loved the brother more, it was that bond only brothers had and the one that he had heard that sisters shared something similar.<p>

John would be the first one to admit that he had been spoiled, not with things. He had been spoiled with love, affection, and home cooked meals. His dad was an excellent dad, when he got older and had kids, he hoped he would be like him; loving, and dotting on the kids. He never once felt the harshness of life, like so many did. Not until that fateful day when his bubble burst and he was thrust into this life that he had now.

When the trolls first invaded, John had been too protected by his dad to realize how cruel and unforgiving the new world was becoming. His dad carried on like normal, continuing to dote on him and supply him with the home cooked meals that he was accustomed to.

The day everything changed though would live forever in his memory, no matter how old he was, he could never forget. It was a warm late spring day, he and his dad were out in the yard; dad was tending the garden that he had recently planted vegetables in while John had been playing on his pogo ride, proud that he had yet to fall from it. When the planes flew over, John didn't realize what was going on, he just knew that as the first shadow covered him, his dad scooped him into his arms and said urgently to go into the hiding place and that he would join him soon.

Trustingly, John nodded his head and went into the bomb shelter that his dad had showed him a couple years ago, and that they sometimes put stuff in.

For about ten minutes, John obediently sat on a cot and waited for his dad to come join him. When ten minutes turned into twenty, John was rapidly becoming restless, not sure what was keeping his dad, he climbed the ladder and had his hand on the latch when the ground shook. As he was falling, his hands were trying desperately to grab onto the ladder rungs when he landed. Luckily he landed on his leg and not his head. The pain seared his leg and when he tried to stand he found he could not put any weight on it.

If he had been a doctor, he would have realized that he had a hairline fracture in the tibia, luckily it hadn't snapped in half.

Reaching over, John grabbed a mop and used it to drag himself close to the ladder once more. Using his arms and one good leg, he once more went up the ladder. It seemed to take him an eternity to get to the top, having to stop to give his muscles a chance to adjust to the strain he was putting on them. This time as he reached for the latch, he braced himself for another jolt.

Lifting the latch, John peered out of the hole. Smoke slowly seeped into his shelter; coughing, he pulled himself out.

What had once been his home along with several other homes was now a charred and smoldering pile of rubble. His heart beat felt heavy as he looked around, desperate to find his dad, yet dreading it.

The garden that his dad had been in only hours ago was now littered with debris from the homes. Dread filled his young body; he didn't want the yard or garden to hold his dad's body. He pleaded with the higher beings that his dad believed in that his dad was somewhere safe and not laying on the ground dead; and missing body parts.

It didn't take him long to realize that no dead bodies were in the vicinity, and that no one was around.

He must have passed out from the pain, for the next thing he remembered; he was waking up with something wrapped around his leg. Looking around, he noticed the dark haired girl bent over a cooking fire. She had a pair of wire rimmed glasses perched precariously on her nose, at a glance, she seemed to look so wise and ancient; but then as she realized that he was looking at her, it seemed like her face softened into more of a child like face. She didn't look much older than John, so what was her mystery, he wandered to himself.

She introduced herself as Jade Harley, and her dog that sat solemnly next to her, was Bec.

She seemed friendly enough, and she did after all just about save him.

Who was he fooling, he was a complete sap when it came to others, he did not have a mind that allowed doubt for anyone when he first met them, he liked everyone, and when she said that she would help him find his dad, hell, she didn't have to ask, he considered her a friend already.

So with the help of Jade and Bec he scoured the county that he had called home, at times frustrated that he could not find any sign of his dad. Other times pleased that his dad was still MIA, it meant that he still might be alive.

In those early days if it hadn't been for Jade, he just might have given up the search. Now though after so long, it was no longer a priority. He still held hope that his dad would be alive, yet he also felt as if that was asking too much from the powers that be.

Jade was a joy to be around, she brightened his day just like his dad used to do, she taught him all different types of plants, he never knew that you could eat dandelion greens. She knew how to take care of herself, and never complained about having to help him.

They had been together maybe four months, his leg was beginning to heal where he no longer needed the walking stick; Jade had left him alone near a town that she wanted to check out. A voice startled him from his moment of thought, "Who the fuck are you?"

Glancing over, John saw a boy with the palest blonde hair he had ever seen, his eyes were covered by dark sunglasses, even though it was not that bright. The boy spoke with a slight accent, John though didn't know what kind, he just realized that the dialect was different than his.

"I asked you a question, are ya deaf or what?"

"No," John finally said, "My name is John, who are you?"

The other boy seemed to look at John as if trying to gauge whether or not he should be friendly. After only a brief moment, the new boy said, "I am Dave; I'll be your protector, okay?"

"You think I need protection?"

"Yea, something about you…" Dave sat down next to John. "So are you alone?"

"No, I am with a girl."

"You have a girlfriend?" Dave seemed mildly impressed.

"No!"

Dave and John just looked at one another for about five minutes, neither one spoke, yet they spoke volumes. Dave had taken his sunglasses off and John gazed into eyes the color of a clear sky with blood mingled into it. There was a word for Dave, John knew there was, yet he didn't care, something within John reached out and touched something in Dave and vice versa, the two boys didn't realize it at the time, however at that moment; they bonded more than just friends. They had become brothers; Dave wanted nothing more than to protect John, and see him happy. John just wanted Dave with him all the time.

When Jade returned later that day, she found them huddled together holding hands, and both fast asleep. Sleeping the sleep of those who were at least content about life, and able to get a good rest.

Jade didn't mind the addition of Dave, she welcomed it in fact, she was slightly startled to see how close the two of them became though. If John needed anything, Dave would get it, even if John didn't know he needed it at the time. They seemed inseparable, like they were joined at the hip.

It was a couple of weeks after they all joined together when John first started having the nightmares. They were always of his dad and different ways he had died, John would wake up from them screaming, and in a cold sweat, Dave would take him into his arms and comfort him, rubbing his back till John fell back to sleep. In the mornings John never remembered, and the more that Dave did for John, the more the bond strengthened between the two.

Dave told them how he had been with 'Bro' on vacation here when the attack had first started, they had managed to get through the worst of it, then one day they were hiking through a mountainous region that Bro fell down a slope. Dave had tried to get to him, short of falling himself; it had taken Dave three hours and by the time that Dave got there to where Bro was supposed to be, no one was there, only evidence was Lil Cal. Dave carried Lil Cal around with him from then on. Dave knew that Bro would never leave that puppet anywhere so it was assumed that the trolls had captured him as well as John's dad; so he was pleased that their quest was to locate them.

It was when they encountered Rose that Bec died, he was protecting Jade from the troll that killed Rose's mom; Jade had been heartbroken, you could tell by just looking at her that she missed her white hybrid wolf/husky; the nightmares got worse for John. Even John and Dave took it hard, they all acted brave though due to Rose having just lost her mother. John was amazed at how much strength Jade had to be able to pull Rose out of the depression that was setting in when all Jade wanted to do was mourn the loss of her guardian.

The loss of that bond would devastate the two boys, no one mentioned it, even when Rose joined the group and Bec died, the bond was continuously growing and developing, now though it seemed to stop, and neither one of them could do anything to go back to letting it grow, somehow the trolls had disrupted that bond, not just any troll. Dave blamed Karkat, and John didn't know what to think, he just missed the bond at odd times.

So now that John had found out that the only reason that Karkat had saved him was because of that ridiculous bond about saving the person that saves you, not that he minded, hell, it made sense. What he did mind was that Karkat now claimed that he wanted to be John's 'matesprit,' after which the troll had assumed Dave and John were matesprits.


	20. Chapter 19

"So are you going to tell me what the deal is," John asked Karkat. "Did you save me just because you had to? I also don't think that you saved me at all, but that is neither here nor there."

"I do not think it concerns you." Karkat sullenly said he did not want to scrutinize just why he had saved John the other night; he liked to think that he did it because he wanted to.

"What part of it does not concern me?" John was getting more upset as they spoke.

"Vriska!" Karkat growled. "Why the hell did you start this?"

"Fine don't answer me." John got up as the truck lurched and he deftly jumped down while it still moved.

From inside the truck, John could hear all the others yelling for Dave to stop the truck, he saw Karkat also jump down and head over to him. They stood in the middle of the deserted highway and stared at one another. Finally John broke the silence, "You idiot! You say that we are matesprits yet you do not trust me."

"Who told you I thought that?" he approached John, "Wait, let me guess, Vriska right?"

John looked away; he couldn't fully understand why he was so mad about this, it just was important for him to know. He had thought that Karkat was just naturally kind, and that he had saved John due to that, yet he now finds out that the troll was not all that John had thought, or maybe he was. He was so confused, he liked Karkat. He liked him a lot. Just how much, he didn't yet know.

Times like these he wished Rose was here, she could help him understand what he was going through.

"You want me to tell you why I saved you?" Karkat was slowly approaching John, "I'll tell you why, you have the most expressive eyes you know that, and when I first met you I knew there was something special about you." he wanted to add that he also felt possession of John, yet that would sound too much like a stalker, yet that was how he felt.

Dave pulled the truck off to the side of the road and jumped down; wondering what the excitement was now. As soon as he turned towards the back of the truck and looked, he saw John and Karkat standing maybe a few feet away from one another. The emotions started to swirl and he forced them to go back to the calm exterior that he showed everyone. Not again wanting to lose his cool in front of Terezi, who just moments ago had been laughing about him losing his cool.

"That's it." He said as he too approached John, "You," he indicated Karkat, "Up front with your two troll friends, Sollux can drive for a while. John you with me in the back now." his tone of voice broke no argument from the two. John just nodded his head and allowed Dave to help him back into the truck while Karkat went to the front.

Everyone heard Terezi say; "Hell no… I wanna drive this baby… Dave said I could."

Dave only snorted knowing that it was her jibe at him to get him to smile. He would later dub this day the day from Hades… If you do not know who Hades was, then you are worse off than John.

Needless to say, the truck jerked forward, the gears were making a sick sound as Sollux took control of it.

"What the fuck is that sound?" Karkat asked on the other side of Terezi.

"Holly shit!" Sollux exclaimed, "I don't know."

"You're killing it Sollux!" Terezi said, "I told you I should have been the one to drive."

"Shut up, I'm the hellsman."

"What the fuck is a hellsman?" Karkat asked while trying desperately to not grind his sharp teeth to a tiny nub as he once more heard that irritating sound.

"Helmsman." Terezi bonked Sollux on the head with her cane.

"I can call it whatever I want. And stop hitting me with that evil stick of yours."

"Will you two stop arguing long enough to answer my question?"

"It's the person in command of this thing." Terezi said, "At least according to Dave."

"I wanna be in command."

"Are you a stupid idiot?" Sollux once more caused that sick sound to come from the hood, "This is a big responsibility, and besides I am the one that learned how to command this thing." With those words the truck did a violent lurch as it was coaxed into gear with a whip instead of a gentle hand.

"You are killing it Mr. Helmsman." Terezi commented, "Should I get Dave up here?"

"Hell No."

"Fuck No!" Both Karkat and Sollux seemed to be averse to having Dave up here. "Besides he is with John."

"What is the deal Karkat?" Terezi demanded, "I thought you knew how to court someone."

"Shut it Terezi, I do know how to court someone, it's just that John is not just someone, he is a human, he does not fully understand the ways of courtship, add to that one meddlesome Vriska and that is the 'deal.'"

"Do you really think he is your matesprit?" Sollux asked as he shifted the truck with expertise, no grinding of gears this time.

"I don't know. All I know is that I cannot stop thinking about him." If this had been any other two trolls he would not be this honest, these two though were like family to him. "Let's leave my relationship alone for now, what about Terezi and Dave?"

"What about me?" Terezi grinned in the direction of Karkat's smooth voice. "Dave smells delicious."

"So you have a thing for him?"

"No…Yes." Terezi did not deny her feelings with others. "He is still mourning the loss of John though."

"Can't we talk about something else?" Sollux asked with a sigh. "Red feelings should be a subject not broached near me again."

Every troll knew how he had felt for Aradia, and then he accidentally killed her, causing a chain of events to unfold that would forever alter his relationships with all others. And just here lately Feferi seemed to be interested in him.

Karkat didn't say anything till about three human hours later when the truck coughed like an old troll and died.

"What the fuck," Karkat said as the truck headed straight for the ditch on his side.

Karkat watched in fear as the ground got closer then slowly backed off, that was when he realized that Sollux must be using his powers. The powers that he did not like to use due to having killed Aradia at one time.

"That was fun…" Terezi laughed as the truck righted itself and come to a stop.

"Like hell it was." Karkat felt sick due to the motion that the truck had caused his body.

"Cool it you two." Sollux said as he got out of the truck.

Karkat too got out and headed towards the back to check on the others, mainly John.

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><p><em>AN: Well it's been a while since we uploaded anything. Sorry you know how life is. As you noticed we uploaded two chapters today. To sorta make up for it. Next chapter should be out soon stay tuned. :) _


	21. Chapter 20

Jade Harley was not prone to panic, even in dire circumstances, so when she woke up to see another troll, this one looking more robotic than anything, she just smiled and said, "I am so glad you made it."

"You knew she would join us?" Rose seemed unfazed, yet Jade could tell the tension in the tone.

"I thought she might." Jade said as she sat up, "I am Jade, that is Rose." she said to the girl troll.

"Pleased to meet you." she said, "I am Aradia."

"Well Aradia I am glad you joined us." Jade pulled on her coat, "However right now time is crucial, and we must leave. The boys are about to find the place at the crossroads."

"Have you seen them?" Rose asked as she too got her coat on that she founding an old abandoned house they had found a couple days ago.

Jade nodded her head and said, "John has his hands full, and he wishes you were with them, so maybe tomorrow you can go join them?"

"What do you mean?"

"We will be within a couple hours of them tomorrow, and if Aradia is going to go with me, then you could go to them and help John figure out his feelings."

Rose smiled and asked, "Do you honestly think it is that easy with John? And shouldn't I stay with you? In your vision you said I was with you."

"And you were with me, and now Aradia will be with me. Soon we will find the others, so it will only be a few days, this way you can stay with the ones that need you the most."

Rose did not let the news get her excited, that would not be good, letting her feelings show on how she really wanted to see a certain troll that she had somehow connected with within a few hours. Instead she asked, "Are you sure Jade?"

Jade looked at her friend and nodded her head, "John really does need you to help him, otherwise he will blunder around and miss his chance at eternal happiness."

"What do you mean by that?" Rose was mystified by what Jade said.

"You will understand when you talk to John and Dave." Jade serenely said as she left the little shack they had camped in. once outside, she laughed at the winter wonderland that they were in. It was not much snow, yet it was so pretty that it made Jade a little reminiscent of the upcoming holidays that would soon be here. "It's so beautiful." her voice now was full of awe as she gazed around at the scenery. "I want to celebrate the holidays when we all regroup."

"Sounds good to me." Rose too was appreciative of the landscape.

Aradia didn't need any coat; her metal body could handle the cold. She did look at the two human girls with something akin to curiosity though at the way they seemed so taken with the light dusting of white stuff on the ground.

For most of the walk, they get to know one another, asking questions and supplying information in return.

"So," Rose said as the three of them took a short break around noon, "You only have one matesprit and stay loyal for life?"

"Yes," Aradia answered, "Don't you humans?"

"Not usually." Rose said a touch of sadness to her tone.

"Our culture is supposed to be that way, yet we tend to forget and some of the times we stray." Jade supplied for the troll.

"That is sad," Aradia said, "Once our true matesprit is found, we are loyal, along with our kismesis. No one dares interfere."

"Doesn't the matesprit and kismesis resent one another?" Jade wanted to know.

"I think I understand," Rose said for Aradia, "it's like the kismesis is the one that gets the violent side of the troll, while the matesprit gets the tender part. That way the troll never hurts the matesprit, unlike human relations where in the past caused domestic violence and other things, and the kismesis is giving as much as receiving so it all works out for the best."

The robotic troll smiled and nodded her head, "You are learning," in her head she added that Kanaya would be lucky when these two rejoined the others. She knew how Kanaya felt towards this blonde human girl, and it was good that she would soon reunite with them.

"Tell me something then Aradia," Rose said, "How do you all know when you find the true matesprit? How do you know it is not just a passing thing?"

"That is the complicated part of troll relationships. It is different for all, I have yet to find my true matesprit, I thought I had then things happened," her voice seemed to be a bit melancholy.

***EBCC***

John had been asleep when the truck had nearly tipped and died. Dave though had kept him from being tossed.

Dave knew what had happened, the truck was now out of gas, he had been worried about that. So as everyone pilled out of the back, he was the only one that knew what to do, he pulled out the two five gallons of gas that they had wedged in the truck. It would have to do till they found another gas supply.

Vriska wrapped her slender arms around John and led him to the now snow free side of the road, they sat on the edge while Dave poured the gas into the fuel tank, saving some for the carburetor. As he was busy with the process he recalled the time that his Bro had run out of gas in the middle of a busy intersection in Houston, the two of them laughed cause the gas station was only a couple of yards away. A big hulking cowboy had helped them push the car to it and helped them get the fuel it needed.

Dave knew that Bro could have done it alone, yet that was how they had met Jeff, a good friend to Bro. Turned out that cowboy was Jeff's older brother.

John saw Karkat, he knew that he should apologize to the troll; he just wanted to stew a bit more first though, so he turned away from him and looked at Vriska.

"Tell me something Vriska, were you serious earlier about helping me train?"

"Yeah," she ran her fingers through his thick bangs, pushing them back away from his face, "I think it would benefit both of us. And I will even do these mock fights you spoke of."

"Should we start now then?"

Her reply was cut off by Dave, "Okay everyone, back in, we have some more gas. John, you and Terezi with me up front."

"What about Vriska?" John asked.

"What about her?"

"I want her with us instead."

Heaving a sigh of frustration, Dave said, "Fine, whatever."

So this time Dave, John and Vriska rode up front. Dave stressed that John be in the middle though, which didn't bother John.


	22. Chapter 21

_AN: Hey guys sorry for the delay. We don't like to make excuses or anything, but real life has had it's grip on us. With school and work and our internet service provider has been giving us crap lately... Anyway, we hope you forgive us and enjoy the chapter._

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><p>Karkat grumbled while Vriska was beaming at the change of seating arrangements. He didn't think that John would deliberately snub him this way. To top it off, John seemed more than eager to forgive Vriska for the way she had … wait, he thought for a moment, no reason for John to forgive that shrew, she did nothing to him. It was all directed to him that she had set her plan into motion. Was she trying to cause trouble for him? Karkat did not fare good in the back of the truck, both Dave and Vriska were with John as he sat there not being able to defend himself with whatever poison Vriska was feeding the gullible John.<p>

As Karkat sat in the back mulling over his misfortunes; John and Vriska were up front laughing and joking about random things, talking about Nic Cage and meaningless movies.

Dave ignored them for the most part, he didn't particularly like Nic Cage, or the lame movies that John liked, or for that matter the epic story's that made the lame movies. And hearing how John described them made it more so. When John talked about Problem Sleuth though, Dave paid attention, which he did like; he liked P.I. who had very little vim. He did have the highest imagination though and that was what made him so funny, damn, he couldn't lift something, but he sure could imagine the oddest weapons, and the best forts.

"We had a movie similar to that." Vriska said, "I saw it three times, it was good."

"What was it called?" John asked.

Vriska looked at John as if a tad bit upset, then she went into this long list that made up the title, which basically told the entire movie in a thousand words, give or take. It even went into detail about all the stunts just how many explosions and all the little things. When she was done, she looked at him and said, "That was the title I am fairly certain."

"Why the hell is the title so long?" Dave asked, giving proof that he too had been paying attention.

"We ran out of titles some time back. Our planet lived for movies."

"Did the twelve of you all know one another on your planet?" John asked curiously.

"In a way, we knew each other. We talked on the trollnet."

"That must be like the internet then," John said, "so you never met in person?"

"Well I did live next to Equius. And I RPG'd with a few others." Vriska avoided saying who, "My RPG name was Mindfang, she was also my ancestor."

"So how do you propose we train?"

"When we stop we will start by simple training techniques that I have come up with."

"You two are going to train?" Dave asked as he down shifted effortlessly.

"Yeah," Vriska smiled, "That's why Karkat got so upset."

"I think it is a good idea." Dave said.

"Yeah?" John grinned, "Want to train with us?"

Dave shrugged his shoulders and said, "We'll see."

Vriska looked between the two of them and realized that adding Dave to the fire might just serve Karkat right.

"Look Dave!" John got excited as he saw the gleam of a metal warehouse up in the distance "Is that what I think it is?"

"What is it?" Vriska got excited from the way John was, she wanted to know what it was she was getting excited over though.

"It is," Dave said. "I wonder if anyone is in there."

"What is it?" Vriska was getting mildly upset now; she didn't know what they were so excited about and having it rub off on her made her upset due to them not explaining. "What the hell are you two talking about?"

"It's a Crossroads warehouse." John said absently to her, "It is only one of the biggest corporations in America. They own all sorts of stores, and this is one of the warehouses."

"What is so great about that?" Vriska was slightly disappointed.

"Food, clothing, you name it, they have it." John said.

"It'll be like Christmas up in there." Dave said.

"Hell yeah!" John couldn't contain his excitement any longer; he leaned over and kissed Dave on the corner of the mouth then did the same to a stunned Vriska.

It was then that Dave recalled what Jade had said about the crossroads when they had all been together a couple days ago. It seemed like an eternity, yet it had only been a few days, so much had happened since then. "We have to wait for Jade and Rose here."

"What do you mean?" John was clearly puzzled.

"Remember what Jade said about we all reunite at the crossroads, at the time I didn't understand, this is the crossroads she was talking about."

"Sweet!" John said, "Now I know she is psychic."

"Without a doubt."

"Okay," Vriska was saying, "We all have to wait here for your friends so this is our new hive then."

"Our home…" John's voice held a trace of nostalgia. "I guess so."

The truck tore through the gate and barreled towards the main entrance. The entire place looked like it was in a lockdown mode. "Well, "Dave said as he jumped from the cab of the truck, "If we can get in, it will be heaven."

One by one all the others joined them at the steel doors leading into the place. "Is that an electronic lock?" John asked.

"Yeah," Dave fiddled with the numbers trying to do the combination. He was just punching random numbers into it when Sollux gently pushed him aside and hooked it up to one of his many gadgets and began decoding the lock. Within moments, four distinct clicking sounds emitted from the door, and then it buzzed while a green light went out over the door.

"Here you go." Sollux said as he unhooked the gadget and pushed open the door.

"Wonderful hacker." Dave was impressed.

"Be on guard." Karkat said as he tried to stay close to John to protect him as they entered the dimly lit building. A few offices were in this section, quick glances in them assured them they were empty.

"We know…" Dave glared at the self-appointed leader of the trolls, "We have been taking care of ourselves longer than you think."

John could tell the tension between Dave and Karkat had intensified and as Terezi put her arm through Dave's he realized it would be up to her and himself to defuse it.

* * *

><p><em>An: We are currently working on the next chapter. Hopefully it will be uploaded sometime tomorrow. :) <em>


	23. Chapter 22

The air in the warehouse was not stale as would be expected. They soon found out why, it had a solar powered generator, which meant it never ran out of power. Equius and Nepeta stayed at the entrance while the others checked it out. John wondered just when it was that he managed to be alone with Karkat, but they were exploring the food section while the others had gone off somewhere else. He grudgingly forgave the troll for the mistake from earlier.

"We should find the others." John said a little nervous at how close he and the troll were walking.

"You want to?" Karkat shrugged his shoulders, "They are over there." he indicated a couple aisles over.

"How do you know?"

"I can hear them."

"Oh, well then…" he didn't know what to say now. "Umm…"

"What is it?"

"Sorry about earlier." John said, looking guilty at the same time, "I was a real jerk."

"I was mad at Vriska, not you."

"Why her? She didn't do anything."

"You don't know the half of it…"

"Try me."

Karkat grabbed John by the arm and pulled him closer to where John could feel the heat radiating off of him, "She likes to stir things up, causing trouble with everyone."

"What do you mean? How did she do that between us?"

"Just drop it okay? It is complicated, even I don't fully understand her and I have known her since I was a grub."

"What the hell is a grub?" John asked as they continued walking aimlessly down the aisles of food.

Heaving a exasperated sigh, Karkat said, "It is what we are when we hatch."

"You mean like a egg?" now it was John's turn to shudder.

"No, you idiot… wait, maybe."

"So you don't have babies?"

"Babies?" Karkat stopped and stared at John.

John paused also and said, "Yeah, we start as babies."

"Oh, okay." Karkat said, "Can anyone have them?"

"No, just girls."

"You don't have babies then?"

"A girl needs to have the guy for uh… well… um… you know…"

"No I do not know."

John could feel the blush rise from his neck to engulf his face, this conversation was going in a direction he was not liking. "Can we just talk about something else?"

"No, tell me why the girl needs the guy."

"To get her pregnant." John said, "You should really talk to Dave about this, or Rose, they are the ones that explained it to me."

"Were they truthful with you? Just tell me what they said."

"Why is it so important?" John asked trying to ignore the blush that was still on his face, as he recalled what it was that first Dave said then how Rose had confirmed it; at the time John had been grossed out, in fact he was still a little grossed out by it. Now though it embarrassed him to be talking about it with Karkat of all people.

"If you are indeed my matesprit then I have a right to know what it is you will do to me."

"Hold it right there," John said, he was really blushing now, "What if we are not, you don't need to know unless we are, and I don't think we are. I am not a homosexual."

Karkat was about to growl in frustration, when a bang distracted both of them, followed by Gamzee yelling; "Tavros, you mother fuckin miracle worker! I love you Tav!"

John and Karkat looked at one another for a moment then they both ran towards the noise.

"I wonder what happened." John said as they ran down a long aisle filled with boxes of what appeared to be crates upon crates of soup. On the box it said Campbell's, so it had to be soup, John surmised.

"It sounded like something fell." Karkat said, he had absently taken hold of John's hand as they ran.

"How far are they?" John asked after about two minutes of running.

"It sounded like it came from this way."

"You don't know where they are do you?"

Karkat looked sheepish as he looked down at John, "I just know they are not with us."

"No shit." John said.

Karkat dropped John's hand and stopped, "I don't see why you are so upset. We are spending quality time together and 'getting to know one another,' so why do you still want to argue with me? Why don't you know where they are, it is as much your fault as it is mine."

"You were the one that said you could hear them."

"Yeah, I could hear them, not see them." Karkat said, "Now because of you heading in this direction instead of the other way, I can't even hear them now."

"Okay," John took a deep breath, "We just head back the way we came."

"Fine." Karkat once more took John's hand, "Simple, then we will rejoin them."

"Yeah." John didn't say anything about the hand holding, in a way it was mildly comforting, considering where they were.

John led the way back to where they had been discussing human reproduction earlier, what a way for him to not have to say what it was that Dave and Rose had told him, it was just too much to think of. He most likely would have died of shame at having to tell Karkat about it.

"Okay," he said as they paused in nearly the same spot they were barely twenty minutes ago. "We were here, and then we heard the noise and your loud friend."

Karkat gave John a look that said 'fuck you,' before saying; "I think we need to finish our conversation from earlier."

Gulping, John blushed slightly before saying, "I don't think so, I mean it's not like it is vital in finding the others."

They were still holding hands, so Karkat pulled John closer and said, "Why are you afraid to tell me? Should I kiss you so that you will tell me?"

"Fine have it your way, but if you end up mentally scarred don't come crying to me." Clearly, John was shaken, his cheeks were beginning to turn a deep red and he blurted out what it was that Dave and Rose said; "A girl needs a guy to get her pregnant, they have sex."


	24. Chapter 23

"What do you mean?" Karkat asked after a moment.

"Don't tell me you guys don't have sex."

"We have sex," Karkat said, "It's just not meant for that though."

"What is sex for you trolls then?"

"Fun!" Karkat's grin spread across his face as he said it.

"You mean to say you have had sex?"

"Are you kidding? Of course not! I am not ready…"

For some odd reason, John was pleased with that response. "Oh, okay."

"Have you had sex?"

John nearly choked, he would have if he had anything in his mouth at the time, as it was he just coughed a few times and shook his head no… for some dumb reason he couldn't talk.

"So a guy and girl get together and have sex then fill buckets right?"

"What the hell would they need a bucket for?" John's voice sounded weak and cracked as he asked.

"To reproduce." Karkat said nonchalantly. "Who do you want to have sex with? This Rose girl or Dave?"

"Oh my God, neither!" John couldn't believe they were actually talking about sex, "Besides two guys cannot reproduce. Can we just go look for the others?"

Karkat shrugged his shoulders and said, "Sure. So um, two guys can't be together?"

"I never said that, they just can't reproduce with one another so it kinda defeats the purpose of sex."

"Why can't you just have sex for fun?"

John pulled his hand away from Karkat's and backed up slightly, "They can." His blush was more intense than ever at the images that were floating in his mind now. "Let's just go find the others."

"Fine."

When he went to grab John's hand though John thought better of it and backed away, "Why do trolls need buckets to reproduce?"

Now it was Karkat's turn to blush. He looked so cute with his gray skin turning a slight pink from the blood rushing to his head. "Let's go and find the others." Karkat hedged closer to the end of the aisle, looking like a deer trapped in headlights.

"You made me tell you, so you tell me now."

"John," Karkat said, "I would tell you, but you will only get grossed out, I did when I found out."

"Try me…" John dared.

"Adult trolls supply their genetic material to the filial pails carried by Imperial Drones who then take it to the Mother Grub. She does this thing and mixes all the DNA into a slurry type thing and lays hundreds of thousands of eggs. When we hatch, we make our ways to areas to make cocoons to finish maturing. Once that is done we go through trials that only the strongest survive, and a lusus picks us and we enter into a contract to look out for them and they look out for us. Too much detail right?"

John couldn't believe it, they really were aliens. It seemed kind of odd, yet John didn't think any less of them, in fact he thought of them as friends that had strange backgrounds and were of a different culture. "That wasn't too gross." John smiled at him.

This time when Karkat went to grab John's hand, John allowed him and silently they headed towards the front of the warehouse. Each one deep in his own thoughts about everything they had talked about.

It was Dave and Terezi they found first. Dave looked pointedly at their clasped hands but didn't say anything about it, Terezi though laughed and said, "We were sent to hunt you two down. It was assumed you guys were lost."

"We were not lost." Karkat said defensively. "We were just talking."

"What was that noise earlier?" John asked as they all headed back to the front together.

"Oh you must mean when Tavros crashed into the boxes when Vriska tried to kiss him." Terezi laughed once more.

"For being blind, she sure is astute." Dave said, "He crashed into a pile of Faygo and the other guy, was him name Gamzee?" At Terezi's nod of her head, he continued, "Well he went on about how Tavros was his miracle maker."

"He also declared himself." Terezi said.

"So Tavros and Gamzee are off limits now?" Karkat inquired.

"Yeah." Terezi tugged on Dave's sleeve. "Where is the water?"

Dave smiled down at the female troll and said, "I will get you some as soon as we get back okay?"

"Thanks."

John noticed how close the two of them were getting and smiled to himself. A few days ago, if anyone had told him that Dave would be this close with a troll, John would have called the person crazy, now though it seemed natural. He was happy for his friend, even though it still confused him about these trolls, why were they so much nicer than the ones that had invaded here recently? If what he had learned from them was any indication, all adult trolls were bloodthirsty and enjoyed the killing of lesser beings.

Would these trolls change as they got older? He hoped not, he was getting to like them, some even more than others, with this thought he looked at his entwined hand with Karkat's. Maybe he should not get too close with them; he might end up dead by them.

When he polled his hand away from Karkat's, the troll looked at him quizzically and said, "What's the matter?"

"Nothing." John started to follow the other two when Karkat tried to take his hand once more, "No Karkat," John said. "I don't feel right."

Karkat looked mildly hurt and walked next to John but didn't try to touch him again.

Feeling slightly guilty about it all, John was tempted to take his hand and had to forcefully remind himself that he didn't want to end up dead in the future. If Karkat was his matesprit like the troll seemed to think, then John would have a hard time getting used to it. Sometimes he welcomed it, others he wanted to run as far and fast as he could get.

* * *

><p><em>AN: sorry this is such a short chapter, it's just that the next part didn't really fit into this one, so… uh… yeah; thanks for the reviews, alerts and favorite's… they warm us to the inside and keep this plot bunny alive…_


	25. Chapter 24

Once they were all together again, Sollux started on rewriting the codes for the security system so that even the adult trolls couldn't figure it out. He said that youth was on his side. In other words, explained Terezi, the adult trolls didn't think like the young ones. This reinforced John's worry.

Dave organized all the others in unloading the military truck, while John alone found a three room tent for himself and Dave to pitch in the middle of the floor. One side would be for him and Dave the other side for Rose and Jade when they got here.

It was Vriska who helped him set it up and put some futon mattresses inside it along with the bedding they would need. It was Vriska's idea that they stack the futon's and make it higher and softer.

"So where did you and Karkat go to?" she asked as they were working on making the bed for the girls.

"Somehow we ended up kinda lost," John said. "Don't let him know I said that though, he would deny it. But yeah we got lost."

"You should have stayed with me." She said while winking at him. "We wouldn't have gotten lost."

"Maybe next time." John smiled at her, "When are we going to start to train?"

"How about tonight?" she placed the blankets on the makeshift bed. "Before we go to sleep. Will you help me with my recuperacoon?"

"Sure," he followed her out of the tent. "Where are we going to put it?"

"Do you mind if I share that hive with you and Dave?" She asked as they picked out a nice recuperacoon. "I thought that I could stay in that middle section."

"Sure I don't mind." John helped her carry it into the tent.

As they passed Dave and Terezi, Dave asked, "What are you two doing?"

"Putting Vriska's recuperacoon into the tent, she wants to stay in it too." John explained.

Terezi looked at Dave and said, "Can I stay in there too?"

Dave rolled his eyes and shrugged his shoulders, "I guess so."

"It was my idea first, and I don't think both will fit." Vriska said, "I was planning on staying in that middle room."

"Both of them will fit," Terezi said, she too followed John and Vriska into the tent. "Mine can go here. Yours can go there."

"Why do I have to share with you?" Vriska seemed upset, "I wanted mine to go there."

"Fine, I will put mine where you are now." Terezi was enjoying putting a damper on Vriska's plans.

"Whatever," Vriska said, "I will take this spot, it is closer to John here." With that, the two of them put down her recuperacoon. "Nice," she said, "I live in a hive inside of a hive."

"What is the slime for anyway?" John asked as some of it got on his arm.

"It keeps the night-terrors from being so bad." Vriska said.

"Don't forget it helps the skin too." Terezi added.

Karkat couldn't believe what he was seeing; both Vriska and Terezi had managed to sneak their way into the humans hive to live with them. How the hell did they do that he wondered.

Tavros and Gamzee seemed pleased to have Vriska out of the way, however Karkat was far from pleased, he would much prefer that shrew be close to him so that he could keep her in check. He really should watch how he thought of her though, John seemed to be fond of her and he didn't want to say something that John wouldn't understand till John fully knew him.

Karkat just didn't understand humans enough to know that nothing was between Vriska and John, other than friendship; much to Vriska's dismay.

* * *

><p>Jack knew the trolls were somewhere nearby, something within him told him, he had to find them soon, or everything would be for naught. This damn weather was getting to him, up ahead he found a cave, a glow was coming from within letting him know someone else was nearby. He could easily pass off as a human, so he decided to pretend he was one. Sitting by a fire holding a puppet in his arms was a pale human that was idiotic to be wearing pointy sun glasses.<p>

"Mind if I join you?" he asked he must have startled the human, for the man looked toward him and cleared his throat.

"Don't sneak up on people man."

"I am sorry." Jack hated to say that to a measly human; well he was loath to say those words to anyone for that matter. "I didn't mean to startle you." He had to play nice otherwise he would have to waste his energy and fight; he did not want to do that.

"No worries man, it's all good."

This human was strange; one minute getting upset that he got startled, the next minute trying to blow it all off. Will he make up his gog damn mind already? Jack wandered to himself.

"So do you mind if I join you?"

"Go ahead dude." the human lit something with a fire stick then inhaled from it, "The more the merrier. Jus Lil Cal and me…"

"Where?" Jack looked around.

The human chuckled and indicated the small human like doll puppet that was sitting on his lap, "This here is Lil Cal."

"Oh…" Jack now knew this human was not all there, if they had been with others he would not have allowed this human to live, as it was he somehow felt momentary pity on this lower life form.

Neither one said what their name was, both keeping that to themselves. In the morning, Jack woke up first and noticed that the blonde man wearing the sunglasses and hat even wore them as he slept, he also had a firm grip on the puppet next to him.

He had to leave, now that he was warmed up and had a somewhat decent meal, he got up and headed north west. Unknowingly following a trail left by two human girls.

* * *

><p>"Are you sure we should split up?" Rose asked for the tenth time as they approached the road that would lead the blonde girl away from the other two.<p>

"Yes," Jade said, "Now you go find the others and tell them we all will see them soon." Feeling a momentary urge to hug Rose, Jade did just that.

"Keep those trolls in line," Aradia said, she had a beautiful voice that made one think of an angel.

"I just don't feel right for some reason." Rose said as she slowly walked away after the hug.

"It will be fine," Jade soothed her. "Trust me okay?"

Slowly, Rose nodded her head and waved as she disappeared down the road.

"You feel it too?" Aradia asked softly, "Is that why you want to get rid of her?"

"Your friend Jack is following us." Jade explained, "You will have to save the ones that we are going to go get. Leave him to me, otherwise you will die and so will the others."

"You know what is going to happen then?"

Slowly Jade nodded her head in agreement. "I will tell you about my dream later, right now we have to make sure Jack follows us and not Rose."

* * *

><p>Tavros sat watching the others, Gamzee was taking things seriously, he had set up the sleeping arrangements so that the two of them would be sleeping next to one another.<p>

Unsure if he should be pleased or not, Tavros was just thankful that Vriska was not going to be near him. It wasn't that he hated the girl, it just so happened that Vriska was prone to fits of rage with him. One such fit led to him being paralyzed. He was not one to hold a grudge though so he tried to forgive her. It just so happened that he couldn't forget that moment when he was sent airborne for Vriska's entertainment.

"Hey Tav." Gamzee sat down next to him. "Want some help with that?"

Tavros looked at Gamzee and was about to ask what he meant, however Tavros had forgotten that he had been in the midst of taking off his robotic legs so that he could clean them. "Uh… sure."

When Gamzee took the left leg, he caressed it lovingly as he cleaned the dust off of the metal. Tavros blushed at the intimate way that Gamzee held his prosthetic leg, and would have looked away had Gamzee been looking at him. As it was, Gamzee was looking at the leg with such adoration that nothing else seemed to matter at the moment.

Absently Tavros cleaned the right leg and would have put it back on had Gamzee not taken it and moved it aside, this time his gaze was solely for Tavros. "Thanks again for finding that Faygo earlier. It sure was a motherfuckin miracle."

"Yeah?" Tavros asked, he didn't mean to find it earlier, it had all been an accident caused by Vriska. She had pushed him and he had fallen on a large box, knocking it down. It had burst open and out spilled the elixir that was Gamzee's choice of consuming.

Gamzee leaned forward and kissed a shocked Tavros on the cheek, while he absently fondled the large horn on Tavros' head.


	26. Chapter 25

Jade knew she was dreaming, she went to the dream that she had been having a lot lately; it was the dream of shortly after Rose had left to go to the others, Aradia was being attacked, and Jade stood between her new friend and the being that was trying to kill her. Then a blinding light engulfed her and she felt a hot searing pain in her gut. In her dream, she put her hands down to where the pain was, and felt a warm thick substance. Looking down she realized that it was red. She felt herself falling backwards, and instead of falling to the ground, she was caught in the metallic arms of her troll friend.

She had analyzed the dream many times since she had first had it in the cave before Rose and her had left. She knew that her time was nearing the end, and there was nothing she or anyone could do about it.

Waking up in the familiar cold sweat, she glanced around. The sun was just starting to rise and her robotic troll friend smiled over at her. It was her dream all over again, this would be the day, she didn't want to dwell on it, nothing could be done.

* * *

><p>"What the fuck do you mean?" Karkat yelled at Vriska.<p>

"Stay out of this," She repeated what she had just said, "John needs to train, not goof off with you."

"Uh, guys…" John was starting to get mildly alarmed at the two raised voices, "You can both train me."

"Stay out of this," Vriska said to John.

"I can train him," Karkat argued. "What good will you do? You just want to paw him and take him away from me. And you don't let him have a say, why not hear him out?"

Dave stood up then, "He is not yours," he said to Karkat, "Nor yours." he added to Vriska. "Tonight you train him, tomorrow Karkat does. How does that sound?"

Terezi clapped her hands and smiled. "Way to go Dave."

John sighed and shrugged his shoulders, thankful that Dave had ended the discussion. "Come on Vriska, you did promise me."

"Yeah," She glared at Karkat before following John to the other end of the warehouse.

Dave sat back down and started to draw, it was a spur of the moment thing that Terezi had said that struck him as funny so he wanted to draw it.

"What are you doing?" she leaned on his arm and absently sniffed at him.

Dave was momentarily reminded of Bec, the first time he had met the dog, the same thing had happened. It had been Lil Cal that the large dog had been interested in then, this time Terezi was interested in Dave.

"Shit!" Dave looked around, "Where is Lil Cal?"

"What is lil cal?"

Dave got up, resulting in Terezi falling down to the cement floor, "I have to find him."

"Who is lil cal?" Terezi repeated.

"He was my Bro's puppet that I had. It was the only thing I had left of him." Dave explained as he searched his supplies. "I can't believe that I left him."

"When was the last time you saw him?"

Dave was thoughtful for a moment before he said, "The day we left the cave."

"Then it is still at the cave." she said all logical.

A sinking feeling flooded the pit of his stomach, he needed to go back and get him.

Terezi hugged him and said, "If it makes you feel any better, then after a while you and I will go back and get it. I am sure it will still be there."

"You would go with me?" Dave turned and at the same time, Terezi turned, resulting in their lips colliding. At first, both were startled and backed away.

"Yes…" Terezi absently put her hand to her mouth to savor the feel and possibly relive the taste of Dave. "You taste good…"

Dave nearly blushed, "You think so?"

"Yeah…" she turned around, slightly confused over how much she had liked the feel and taste of this human. "I gotta go, I am exhausted." With that, she went to where her recuperacoon was so that she could think in peace.

* * *

><p>"Wait up Vriska," John said as they had finished a grueling two hours of training. "I shall call it Casey." he picked up the lizard that was in the corner of the warehouse.<p>

"It's so ugly though to have that name." Vriska said as she too looked at the lizard in John's hand. "What is it?"

"It is a lizard." John explained as he rubbed its head.

"Can you eat it?"

"How dare you say you want to eat my daughter?" John tried to hide the lizard without losing it.

"I didn't say that! I just asked if you could."

"No! No one is going to eat my daughter." John looked around and found a box. "Could you empty that?" At her skeptical look, he added; "Please!"

Vriska nodded her head and emptied the box; it had about twelve boxes of zingers inside. How long had it been since he had a zinger? He wondered to himself. As soon as the box was empty, he put the little lizard in it and carried it along with a few boxes of the zingers back to where the others were.

"You found some zingers!" Dave said when they got back.

"Yep, and these ones are mine."

"Share and share alike." Dave said. "Gimme one. You know I would give you one if I had been the one to find them."

"What are zingers?" Karkat asked as John reluctantly gave one to Dave.

"Not as good as a Twinkie," Dave explained as he tore into the package, "But good none the less."

John took his 'daughter' and his snacks to sit down next to Karkat, "Here," he handed one to Karkat; "Try this."

Karkat looked at it disdainfully, however he too took one. "What is in the other box?"

"My daughter, Casey." John opened the box to show Karkat.

"What the fuck is that thing?"

"He called it a lizard." Vriska sat down on the other side of John.

"What is a lizard?"

Vriska just shrugged her shoulders and then took a zinger and opened the package. "Where is Terezi?" she asked as she ate the zinger.

Dave looked down and then said, "She wanted to be alone I guess."

Vriska nodded her head and didn't say any more, she just watched as the others talked.

"So do you like the zinger?" Dave asked Karkat.

All the troll did was nod his head.

* * *

><p>Rose noticed the building off in the distance, in front of the large doors was an army truck, this must be the spot she thought as she treaded through the snow to get to it.<p>

Glancing behind her, she swore that someone was following her, yet no one was visible.

Shrugging her shoulders, she smiled at the thought of seeing Dave and John once more; it seemed like a month had passed in the short time she had last seen them. She hoped that Jade would hurry up and join them too, then it would seem like normal, no matter if trolls were with them or not.

_AN:/ Sorry for the delay. My friends keyboard broke and made things a bit harder writing these chapters. Hopefully she will be getting a new one soon. But until then we don't know when we will be updating the next chapters. Once again we would like to thank everyone who has Read, Reviewed, and Favorited this fanfiction so far. It makes us very happy to see so many of you guys are enjoying the story. :) _


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